Bulls to raise Rose's minutes ceiling, allow him to play 4th quarters
In meeting his target and returning to the court before the playoffs, Derrick Rose cleared all the biggest hurdles in his recovery from a right meniscus tear and subsequent surgery.
The next step is getting his conditioning up to the point that he can play whole games. Rose was on a 20-minute restriction in his first two games back for the Chicago Bulls, and sat out both fourth quarters.
That's about to change. Rose will see the ceiling on his playing time raised and will be permitted to play in the fourth, perhaps as early as Saturday, according to K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune.
"I want to," Rose said of playing in fourth quarters. "It seems like they're fun games. But it's out of my hands."
Rose said he's been receiving his minutes plan from the Bulls training staff and from Jen Swanson, the team's director of sports performance, who oversaw Rose's left ACL rehab before the Bulls hired her in August of 2013.
"I want to increase my playing time; of course I could go longer," Rose said. "But I don't question her. I've been working with her for three or four years now."
Rose, predictably, showed some rust in his first two games back. He struggled with his shot (as he has all season), hitting just 8-of-24 from the field and 1-of-9 from beyond the arc, and he coughed the ball up seven times in 39 total minutes.
The encouraging thing is that Rose feels good physically, and hasn't lost his aggressive mentality.
"I didn't know what to expect coming into (Thursday's) game," Rose said. "I know before the game I wasn't sore. I was feeling great. And I still feel the same way. So my preparation for the game, I think, is getting a lot better. And I just have to continue to do it.
"Every game, I'm just trying to get better and push myself. My last couple of minutes of the game, I had a couple of turnovers but it comes from just going hard and pushing myself as far as conditioning. I think I'm getting better and I attacked the basket a little more."
Rose is expected to play somewhere in the vicinity of 25 minutes Saturday night against the Philadelphia 76ers.