Derrick Rose Wants to Play for Team USA in 2016 Olympics


“He may just be getting back into the groove of things on the court, but Derrick Rose isn’t afraid to look ahead. Rose and Team USA reps both want the superstar point guard on the roster for the 2016 Olympic Games. Per the Chicago Sun-Times and ESPN: “Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski coaches the team, and Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau is one of his assistants. ‘I would love to play on the team; it would be an honor,’ Rose said. ‘But at the same time it would take me trying out for the team and Coach K and his coaching staff along with Thibs would pick the players and allow me to play for them. So if I have the opportunity to play for them, I will.’ […] When asked specifically whether he would like to see Rose on the Olympic team, Krzyzewski said he was excited about the possibility, assuming the point guard’s surgically repaired left knee holds up throughout this NBA season. Rose is just returning to the floor after missing almost a year and a half as he recovered from an ACL tear in his left knee. ‘Oh yeah,’ Krzyzewski said on Tuesday night. ‘There’s a process that [USA Basketball chairman] Jerry Colangelo will orchestrate all that. But it’s not just 2016; we have to play in Spain next summer. It used to be the world championships and now it will be called the World Cup. And Derrick was our starting point guard when we won the world championships in Istanbul in 2010 and did a really good job. He was only 21 years old at that time and probably would have been on our Olympic team in London.'”