Report: Derrick Rose Cleared To Play Extended Minutes
(CBS) The Bulls have cleared point guard Derrick Rose to play extended minutes, the Chicago Tribune's K.C. Johnson reported Thursday morning.
Rose is averaging 29.6 minutes per game this season, including 32.8 in January. He's roughly been limited to around the 32-minute mark, playing about one eight-minute segment per quarter. Bulls management and the medical staff set that policy in before the season because Rose was coming off season-ending knee surgeries in two straight years.
Even without a restriction, Rose's minutes aren't expected to change significantly, the Tribune reported, but this move does allow coach Tom Thibodeau to use Rose for longer stretches when needed.
"The more he plays, the better it's going to be," Thibodeau said.
Rose has started and been available for the entirety of 25 of Chicago's last 28 games. Of the three games he missed, two were for an illness and the other was because of knee soreness in a Jan. 10 win against Milwaukee. Since that absence, Rose has played in five straight games.
Rose being cleared for more minutes comes during a stretch in which the Bulls are struggling, having lost six of their last eight games.
In other injury news, Bulls big man Joakim Noah will miss tonight's game against the Spurs with a sprained right ankle, Thibodeau said. It will be Noah's fourth straight missed game. Forward Mike Dunleavy is still questionable after going through morning shootaround, Thibodeau said. Dunleavy has missed the past 10 games with a jammed right ankle.
