Derrick Rose went through a second full practice Monday in Portland and barring anything crazy happening, will play Tuesday night against the Trail Blazers, a place that hasn’t been the kindest to him or the Bulls.
Many will remember Rose tore his right meniscus, two years ago yesterday, in Portland to end his 2013-14 season after he missed the 2012-13 season with a torn ACL.
“He was good. He made it through another full practice,” Bulls coach Fred Hoiberg said. “Good to see him out there, we got up and down a little bit. And Derrick made it through the full practice.”
Rose was going through his usual volume of shots after practice, one he predicted on Sunday would be a more arduous go-round in preparation for a game after three days off as a team.
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He’s been away from game action since last week when he turned his left ankle late in a win against the Indiana Pacers at the United Center, a 23-point, six-assist performance.
Assuming he plays — and that’s a pretty confident assertion from all involved — he’ll start. Any minute restrictions have yet to be announced, if any decisions have been made.
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“I think we'll make that determination based on how he feels in the morning,” Hoiberg said. “But I think he felt good this morning when he woke up and again, he made it through the full practice without any limitations.”
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Assuming Rose picks up where he left off, the majority of decisions will be made by himself and Jimmy Butler, who’s coming off multiple dominant performances against Phoenix and Golden State.
One of Hoiberg’s tasks has been to maximize Rose, Butler and Pau Gasol while finding ways to get Joakim Noah, Nikola Mirotic and others involved in the offense.
“Yeah, the ball will be in their hands a lot, and then you'll run a two-man game with Pau,” Hoiberg said. “Derrick's done a nice job with the floor flattened out. So a lot of it will depend on who's got it going. But to answer your question, yeah, the ball will be in those two guys' hands a lot at the end of games.”