With a little over two weeks to go before the regular season ends, the Chicago Bulls are primed on getting the No. 3 seed in the Eastern Conference, which means that their homecourt advantage ends on the semifinal round of the conference, where they are likely to battle it out with LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers, safely perched on the second spot.
The good news for the Windy City basketball team is that All-Star point guard Derrick Rose is already scrimmaging, which means that he is already doing contact practice and runs the floor like it’s the usual basketball game, only slower.
While Derrick Rose’s team often gets beaten during team scrimmages, Bulls Coach Tom Thibodeau said that they are on the process of allowing their premier point guard to keep building on his strength and his game.
Day to day
Thibodeau said that once Rose starts feeling good enough to be able to play a game, then the team will take it from there.
This week marked the sixth week after the torn right meniscus was removed from the right knee of Derrick Rose via a third surgery.
While earlier prognosis indicated that the Chief Bull can return to play within four to six weeks after his surgery, Thibodeau does not want to speculate on his return to active duty, preferring to take the matter on a day-to-day basis so as not to put so much pressure on Rose and also the team as it marches into the playoffs.
The Bulls head coach also wants Rose to approach his return to action in the same manner as he and the team are doing it.
Playoff preview
Chicago Bulls will be going up against sixth seed Milwaukee Bucks on Wednesday, which is likely the preview of the playoff first round in the Eastern Conference. So it would be interesting how the match progresses.
Taj Gibson, the sixth man of the Bulls who has just returned from injury, discloses that Derrick Rose is already back in the hunt because the All-Star point guard is now talking trash, hitting three-pointers, and running back up and down the court during scrimmages.
He said that even when Rose was previously playing hurt, he was still pouring on his game. But this time, Gibson said that the hurt appears to be completely gone. He said that it will just be a matter of time before Rose gets back out there going up and down the court the way he normally does, notes Chicago Tribune.
From the looks of it though, Rose may finally get to see action in the last two or three regular season games of the Bulls by next week. But he will definitely be playing in the playoffs. The Bulls need him there, especially when they go up against LeBron James and the Cavaliers in the second round.