Derrick Rose Wanted More Playing Time in Preseason Debut

In his long-awaited return to the court following knee surgery, Derrick Rose was hoping to get about three more minutes of burn than the 21 Chicago Bulls head coach Tom Thibodeau gave him against the Indiana Pacers. But still, Rose says he loves the Bulls’ new offensive schemes. Per the Chicago Sun-Times and Daily Herald: “Rose was ‘mad at Thibs’ for cutting his minutes shorter than promised Saturday against the Pacers, and after a night to think about it, he still wants to be unleashed — preseason or not. ‘Yeah, it’s tough, especially when it’s a close game like it was,’ Rose said. ‘To be sitting out, I just wanted to test myself a little more, but I wasn’t able to.’ Thank goodness for that. Coach Tom Thibodeau addressed the idea of protecting Rose from himself several times in camp, and while Rose wants to show that his surgically repaired left knee is sound, making sure Rose has a future is Thibodeau’s priority. ‘He wanted to play more, which is good, and we’re just going to take it day by day, and if he needs some rest, we’ll give him more rest, and it’s just step by step,’ Thibodeau said. ‘Don’t skip any steps. That’s all we want him to do.’ […] In addition to Rose’s return, the Bulls also debuted a new offense against Indiana. Joakim Noah said Friday it’s more of a read-and-react style. ‘We are really reacting right now,’ Rose said after the game. ‘It’s kind of that offense where you look at a team like the Spurs, it’s kind of reading what the person does. For us, it’s new to some guys, but the guys who have been here, the nucleus of this team, we’re kind of used to it. We’re just knocking the rust off right now.’ The Bulls shot 37.8 percent from the field with 20 assists and 23 turnovers. Those numbers are nothing special, but they did pull off an 82-76 victory over a projected Eastern Conference contender. There were a few times when Rose didn’t bring the ball up himself. Jimmy Butler and Luol Deng grabbed defensive rebounds and headed upcourt with the ball. ‘I love it,’ Rose said of the offense. ‘We’re getting the ball moving. Guys aren’t thinking about it. We did have some stagnant points during the game, but this is preseason. We’re just trying to get the wrinkles out.'”