Q & A: DERRICK ROSE

The mask was made by the same guy who designed Rip Hamilton’s mask in Detroit many years ago. It protects Derrick Rose‘s face, which ran into friendly fire — an elbow from a Chicago Bulls’ teammate the first day of training camp, which fractured his right orbital socket. The litany of injuries that Rose has suffered since his MVP season of 2010-11 is long and has been re-hashed ad nauseum. He’s been banged up for so long it’s hard to remember sometimes that Rose is still just 27, in what should be the prime of his career.

But he begins his eighth NBA season (he missed all of 2011-12) again coming off of an injury, after finally having a summer where he didn’t have to rehab anything. Rose was good for stretches last season, but still is looking to get back to elite form.

In new coach Fred Hoiberg’s new system, the expectations is that Rose will get every chance to again shine, in an offense where greater pace and increased space should be the norm. Rose and his backcourt mate, Jimmy Butler, will have to be dynamic for Chicago to overcome Cleveland, the current Finals favorite in the East. But Rose will have something to say about that. He can imagine the Bulls emerging. But first, he has to be able to actually see.

Me: How is your vision right now?

Derrick Rose: I see two of you right now.

Me: Still?

DR: Still, but every day, like I’ve said, it’s improving. It’s a slow, slow process. But I’m still able to go out there and play.

Me: Do you think you may have suffered a concussion?

DR: No, no concussion. Right when I got hit, the trainer came over, and he was just asking me questions, and I was able to answer the questions. It was just that I got hit. It was a bad hit.

Me: You can’t mess with your vision, though. How do you compensate for where it is right now?

DR: I don’t know. Not to sound cocky, I just feel like I’ve got a good feel for the game. I feel I can play the game without messing up the game, or going out there and just facilitating, just getting what they give me, seeing what the defense is doing and seeing what, offensively, we need to work on. Really, just go out there and have fun and ball.

Me: What was the process for getting the mask fitted, and did you try on different ones to see which one you liked?

DR: They actually had to get a cast of my face first. After they got the cast of my face, they went to the lab in Michigan, and they sent it like two days after they fitted me for it. It came back pretty quick. It wasn’t different types (of plastic); I don’t know, I didn’t really go that deep into it. All I know is he asked me did I want something under my nose, and I said no, So I think it’s going to help me breathe a little bit better.

Me: How did it feel the first time you got hit on it?

DR: It felt all right. I got hit a couple of times in practice, too. You feel the impact, but it’s no pain to it. That’s the good thing. I can go out there and still play and don’t have to worry about it.

Me: You’ve talked about the offensive freedom you have in this new system. How does that manifest itself on the court?

DR: I think that’s the way that I normally know how to play, is just go out there and make something happen. In the past, from high school all the way until I got to the league, that’s how I played basketball. It was just pick and rolls, and going out there and creating something. And the last couple of years, I played in a system. It kind of feels good to go out here and just have that freedom. Not only me, but my teammates have that freedom, too. Coach is really a laid-back dude, but he wants everybody to take good shots.

Me: Is there a dribble-drive component to this offense, like you played at Memphis in college?

DR: Yes, with the dribble-drive, like college. A lot of handbacks, and I catch the ball with a live dribble. That’s something I didn’t have in the past. On the move, so I’m running downhill. I’m always attacking. And I think that’s my game.

Me: And how much does the weakside open up in this offense?

DR: Not only the weakside, I think just the game in general. Like the freedom that he allows us to shoot the ball. We shoot a lot more threes. I think the first game that we played, we shot 39 threes in the system. He’s letting us shoot it, shoot that shot. That’s something that we work on every day in practice. We shoot a lot in practice. And he has a lot of confidence in us to take that shot.

Me: What does that do for a player when he can take a shot and not have to look over at the bench to see what coach says?

DR: Confidence can make you or break you. Especially if you’re a young player and you’re not allowed to play through your mistakes, and not able to learn from your experiences. It just takes being out there and messing up a couple of times before you actually get the groove of it. And this is the NBA. This is the highest level of basketball. So you’ve got to be able to learn through your mistakes.

Me: What were you able to do this summer — the first one in years where you weren’t rehabbing an injury?

DR: I was able to relax. In the summer, I don’t play pickup, but I was able to relax a little bit, work out when I wanted to work out. Whenever I had my surgeries, I had to get up (afterward) for my rehab. And rehab started at 7:30 in the morning, or 8 in the morning. Not saying that’s too early, but for an NBA schedule, that’s pretty early to be getting up and having to travel with the team and work out all day. So I was able to relax a little bit, work out in the afternoon, and just enjoy the freedom I had in taking in my summer.

Me: What are the differences like between Thibs and Hoiberg like on a daily basis, after you’d been in one system for so long?

DR: It’s a little bit different. Thibs was a great coach, and his staff was a great staff. That’s the past. We’re just thinking about the future. With Fred, he’s a little different. He’s laid back. He plays music in practice. He’s just throwing a different twist, a different atmosphere around us, creating one. We love it. Guys are coming in on off days to just get work in, shooting and all that. In the past, that wasn’t the case.

Me: You have any say in the playlist?

DR: Nah, not yet. The other day it was some 80s song. We’re just happy to have some music, any music. Any music is a good change.

Me: Do you think the fact he played in the NBA helps him in terms of understanding players?

DR: I think so. That’s why he’s so laid back, because he played. He was the GM before (in Minnesota). And we just love having him around. He’s just a great person, a great individual. I don’t know if it’s because he came from college, but it seems like he cares about every single person on this team, and that means a lot in this profession.

Me: But under Thibs, you were an elite-level defensive team. How do you balance the freedom you now have on offense with trying to maintain that lockdown defense?

DR: If you lose anyone like Thibs, it’s going to hurt you. He worked on defense his entire career, and is still working on defense. If you lose a person like that, it’s going to hurt you. But with the coaching staff that we have now, the emphasis is help everyone on defense, and the principles are basically the same, though it’s a little bit different. Twists here and there. But everything else is the same — it’s just play hard, get into your guy and make sure we rebound the ball.

Me: Is the Warriors model, with Kerr coming in and taking an already good team to the next level, the expectation here?

DR: I mean, hell, yeah. Hell, yeah. Why not? We’ve seen so much of that happening in the NBA — not only them, but you look at the Hawks. They got a new coach and they did very good, too. If anything, we’re just happy that we’re back hooping, and I’m happy I’m back hooping. We have a great group.

Me: Couldn’t you just have bought Jimmy a steak instead of a $30,000 watch?

DR: I was just taking a different approach for a veteran. I think that he deserved it. He had a great year, a hell of a year. I think you’re supposed to spoil your teammates. I just got him the watch, and I told him he better wear it, because it ain’t no fun giving it to him if he ain’t gonna wear it after the big contract. I’m a hope he wears it.

Me: How will his development last season help you this season?

DR: Oh, man, that’s key. Whenever he’s out there, I tell him what I see on the floor. I just want him to be the best player he can be, as far as working on his game every day. I tell him to shoot more threes, because in our offense, he’s allowing us to shoot more threes, and he can make that shot. He just doesn’t shoot it enough.

Me: So if you say there’s no beef between the two of you, and he says there’s no beef, where do you think it came from?

DR: I really don’t know. I don’t know. That’s a good question. It’s just people nitpicking our team, at our team, just trying to start something for the beginning of the year. I don’t know. Just trying to sell papers or something.