John Calipari coached Bulls point guard Derrick Rose at the University of Memphis for one season in 2007-08, coming within one Mario Chalmers three of winning the national championship that year. While Rose played in all 40 games that season, Calipari, now the head coach at Kentucky, thinks he knows the reason behind the injuries that have plagued Rose for much of his NBA career.
Appearing on “The Herd with Colin Cowherd” on FOX Sports Radio Tuesday, Calipari was asked about Rose’s lengthy injury history and how the Bulls should proceed with his health moving forward.
“I coached Derrick, so here’s what I know. He will defer to his team,” said the 56-year-old head coach. “Now I will say this, and he knows this, he doesn’t have a real high pain threshold. He’s one of those guys, and while he’s getting injured, he knows ‘I gotta be right.’ When you’re an athlete like Derrick Rose, it is really important that you’re healthy. He’s beating you with speed, with explosiveness. And if I’m the Bulls, I don’t want him at 70 percent. We gotta get him at a 100. But it was a freak hit to his eye.
“It was a freak hit. Let me say this – they’re going to win because of Derrick Rose. You watch,” Calipari declared.
Rose, 27, has played in 14 of a possible 16 regular season games for the Bulls so far this season, posting 13.4 points per game, 3.4 rebounds per game, and 5.9 assists per game. His peripheral stats, however, are horrific as Rose has a 40.4 true shooting percentage on the year (third-worst in the league amongst players receiving at least 30 minutes per game behind Emmanuel Mudiay and Kobe Bryant, per NBA.com) and a -2.8 net rating per 100 possessions.
Part of his struggles could be that Rose is still suffering from double vision due to the orbital fracture Calipari was referring to that he sustained in the preseason.
Calipari has a great point in saying that Rose relies heavily on speed and athleticism to be effective. The Bulls have looked great this season when the former MVP has been in his classic attack mode and approaching his peak levels of efficiency in the paint. But those moments have been few and far between so far, as Rose clearly looks to be well below 100 percent as Calipari alluded to.
Still, it’s interesting that Calipari could come to that conclusion after coaching the one-and-done Rose for just a single season, a season in which he appeared in every single game of the maximum 40 in a year.
But with the Bulls currently third in the Eastern Conference, largely without an impact contribution from Rose on most nights, perhaps they should heed Calipari’s advice and handle Rose with care so as to ensure that he peaks for a potential playoff run.
