Derrick Rose is still experiencing double vision, and he might be for a while
Seven weeks after taking an elbow to the face that resulted in a broken orbital bone around his left eye requiring surgical repair, Chicago Bulls point guard Derrick Rose is shooting 35.9 percent from the field and just 1-for-18 from 3-point range. His vision’s still blurry, and it might be for quite a while:
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… although evidently Fred Hoiberg and his player might not be on the same page with that one (which is not the first time that has happened):
Other than that, though, everything’s aces!
Rose has had his moments during Chicago’s 6-3 start to the season, headlined by what looked like a nationally televised breakout performance in a win over the Oklahoma City Thunder. Despite his individual offensive struggles, he’s found ways to contribute by attacking the basket — Rose ranks 11th in the NBA in drives per game and 10th in percentage of possible points scored per drive, according to NBA.com’s SportVU player tracking data, and stands 21st in points created by assist per game.
For the most part, though, the former NBA Most Valuable Player has struggled. He’s been middling as a point producer on isolation plays and as the ball-handler in the pick-and-roll, according to Synergy Sports Technology’s play-charting data, and in case you didn’t hear me before when I mentioned Rose’s shooting numbers, here is a terrifying crimson peek (no del Toro) at what Derrick’s been putting up when he rises and fires:
(Remember: red is bad.)
Through nine games, the Bulls have been outscored by 2.7 points per 100 possessions in Rose’s 291 minutes of playing time, according to NBA.com’s stat tool. In the 152 minutes he’s been on the bench, Chicago has outscored its opposition by a whopping 10.9 points-per-100. It’s a slight oversimplification, but a useful one: in other words, through the season’s first three weeks, the Bulls have produced like the second-best team in the league with Rose sitting, and like a bottom-10 outfit with Rose in the game.
Far from being dispirited by his struggles, though, Rose sounded an upbeat note on Sunday, according to K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune:
“I’m loving the way I’m working out,” Rose said after practice Sunday. “I’m loving the way we’re playing. We’re winning games, so that’s the only thing I’m worried about. Everything else will come.
“I’m missing a lot of shots I normally hit — floaters and layups. But I’m getting my legs under me. It’s still preseason for me, the (ninth) game. So I’m still warming up.” […]
“You kind of have that hope in your mind that it gets well quicker, but for this to be seven or eight (weeks) out and still the same way, I can’t do nothing but live with it.
“It’s still blurry when I look certain ways. The depth perception of the rim, my eyes are thrown off. I’m finding ways around it, but there’s no excuses. I’m not going to blame anything on it. I just know it’s part of the process and something I have to deal with.”
Rose’s optimism is admirable, and generally speaking, the overarching point about essentially being in preseason after getting sidelined early in training camp makes sense. That said, we’re not talking solely about a player getting his sea legs under him and working his conditioning up to par — we’re talking about literally not having a full field of vision and being unsure exactly where he should be aiming when he lets a shot go.
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Are those issues likely to be resolved solely by getting more on-ball reps under Rose’s belt? If they’re not — if they’re the sorts of things that will really only clear up with rest and recovery following the late-September procedure — then it might be fair to wonder whether this version of Rose is the most helpful player to whom Hoiberg can turn at the point at the moment. Because right now, that — like seemingly so much else in this particular case — seems unclear.
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Dan Devine is an editor for Ball Don’t Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter!
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