Pullin’ for D-Rose

Eye On Sports is hoping for a healthy 

return for Chicago Bulls point guard 

Derrick Rose. 

Love him or loathe him (I don’t know anyone who does) but if you like pro basketball and the NBA, then you’ve got to be pulling for Chicago Bulls’ electrifying point guard Derrick Rose, the league’s reigning MVP, (okay, until further notice).

Rose went down late in Chicago’s Game 1 win over Philadelphia in their first round Eastern Conference playoff matchup on Saturday with a torn anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) and will likely take up to a year to even get close to being the player he was before the now, commonplace ACL injury.

The ‘old-school’ Rose, plays the game ‘the right way’ at both ends of the floor, is a genuine and consummate role model off the floor and one of the most composed young stars of today’s generation – in any sport.

On the court, Rose has been an absolute maestro with the basketball, but one unlike the league has ever seen. With his unparalleled ability to dash, dart – and hop – his way through the teeth of an enemy defense to either score the rock himself or dish a ‘fancy feast’ to one of his thankful teammates, Rose has undoubtedly certified himself as a genuine superstar that is anything but the typical me-first player that rules today’s times.

In short, if you like NBA basketball, then you’ve got to be pulling for Chicago’s Derrick Rose. I know I am.

Bad News Bulls?

Chicago Bulls' head coach Tom Thibodeau 

has been masterful this season, 

but his team just can't catch a break.

As an NBA lifer that has loved the game for more than four decades, I’ve got to say that this season’s Chicago Bulls remind of a basketball version of Disney’s ‘Bad News Bears’.

Despite being one of the best teams in all of basketball the past two seasons and one of the top two title contenders in the Eastern Conference, the Bulls just can’t seem to catch a single break this season as they’ve been beset with one injury after another, mostly to reigning MVP and team leader, Derrick Rose.

Rose had missed nearly 30 regular season games while battling every injury from a strained groin to the ever-dreaded (and really painful … trust me, I know) turf toe, before taking the court against Philadelphia in Game 1 of their first round playoff series. So what happens to the Bulls as they are just getting prepared to make a long postseason run?

Rose promptly tears his ACL late in a game that had already been decided, continuing this season’s terrible string of bad luck. Whether you’re a Chicago Bulls fan or not, no one should ever want – or intentionally wish – any player to get hurt.

Having said that, let me just say that rarely have I seen (ever) the resilience of any team that this year’s Bulls’ squad has shown, ‘Bad News Bulls’ analogy aside. Despite losing Rose for much of the season, the Bulls persevered and even saw some major growth in some players (John Lucas III, C.J. Watson) during their superstar’s absence.

Oh … and lest anyone forget, while Disney’s Bad News Bears began as a mess – and struggled through their trials and tribulations along the way – they also ended up as champions.

Rose is right, NBA needs to protect him too!

Chicago Bulls point guard Derrick 

Rose is an old school warrior!

I’m generally not one to support today’s mostly overpaid, whining, millionaire athletes, but I’ve got to give my man Derrick Rose some support when he says he sick and tired of being hammered when he drives to the basket these days.

First and foremost, Rose is an ‘old-school’ player that is a flat-out warrior and doesn’t complain very much at all no matter the situation. However, I also think Rose is so good that he often doesn’t get the calls he should – and that any true superstar has always gotten.

Maybe it’s because he’s so fast or maybe it’s because he’s so strong for a point guard, but whatever it is, I agree with Rose … he seems to take more than his fair share of hacks when he drives to the hole (while some other prima donnas get the benefit of the doubt seemingly everytime).

"I'm sick and tired of people trying to take cheap shots at me," Rose said. "I was mad, man. I'm a man, so situations like that, you have to say something."

The bottom line for me is the fact that the NBA needs to protect him just like they do every other MVP caliber superstar, especially those playing in South Beach!

Derrick Rose For Two!

Unlike many of today’s me-first, cry-baby NBA ‘superstars’ that whine about every and anything under the sun, the Chicago Bulls have a genuine superstar ‘leader’ in lightning-fast point guard Derrick Rose and I’m going on record to predict that Chicago wins at least two titles during his time as the floor leader of the Bulls. That’s right, you heard it here first, D-Rose and the Bulls for at least two NBA championships before he hangs it up. 

Good Move on Marreesse Memphis!

Eye On Sports readers just read about how I think the Philadelphia 76ers are going to regret jettisoning talented big man Marreesse Speights this season without ever giving the sweet-shooting big man out of Florida a real chance to shine.

Well, as we here at Eye On Sports always say, one man’s trash is apparently another man’s treasure!

Having said that, the Memphis Grizzlies wisely targeted Philly’s reserve center-forward as a player that could come in and immediately fill the void left by starting power forward Zach Randolph who is out for up to two months with a torn medial collateral ligament.

How Memphis viewed Speights as some that could start for their Western Conference title-contending team and the Sixers couldn’t find minutes for the still blossoming big man is beyond me, but it say right here that the Grizzlies are going to find themselves giddy beyond their wildest dreams because of how god of a player Speights is.

As a matter of fact, Speights unfurled a terrific double-double of 12 points and 15 rebounds in a blowout win over Sacramento on Saturday after torching the Chicago Bulls for 16 points, 12 rebounds, a blocked shot and two assists in a win just prior to that one.

Speights is averaging 10.0 points per game and 8.6 rebounds in just 25.2 minutes per game over his last five starts with Memphis. Mark it down hoops fans, the Memphis Grizzlies got a real gem in young center Marreesse Speights.

I Knew It . . Luke Could Do It

The Chicago Bulls were without electrifying point guard Derrick Rose on Wednesday night, but that just gave one of my favorite players a chance to shine – and boy did he – proving all along something I saw in him years ago – even though many NBA GM’s didn’t.

Sweet-shooting former Oklahoma State point guard John Lucas III started in place of Rose who sat out Wednesday with turf toe – and he turned in a gem for the ages in scoring 25 points while dishing out eight assists and grabbing eight rebounds.

Bulls head coach Tom Thibodeau reportedly had been telling people for weeks that Lucas was capable of these types of performances – even if no one believed him.

A Rose is a Rose, but Not a LeBron!

Not only did the Chicago Bulls get an elite point guard when they drafted native Derrick Rose with the No. 1 overall draft pick three years ago, but apparently they got a ‘throwback’ kind of player with a huge heart in the fleet-footed floor leader.

It’s pretty funny that just one day after I had a conversation with my brother about the state of the NBAS – and more importantly – how reigning MVP Derrick Rose is nothing like many of today’s other cry-baby superstars like LeBron James or Carmelo Anthony, Rose backed up my beliefs by agreeing to sign a five-year extension with his hometown Chicago Bulls.

Rose could have ‘waited’ to see how the Bulls perform over the next season or two before going to look for greener pastures with franchises other than the ones that drafted them, like James and Anthony but he didn’t.

In essence, Rose has said that, ‘either I get it done in Chicago’ or I won’t get it done at all. Either way, I’m not running halfway across the country to team up with some other superstar in search of the next ‘super team’.

Maybe it’s me, but this morning, I’m an NBA fan again – thanks to Derrick Rose!