Bulls' Derrick Rose Goes Through Partial-Contact Workout
By Cody Westerlund--
(CBS) Bulls point guard Derrick Rose had an individual workout late Tuesday morning in which he took partial contact, another step in his recovery from a fractured left orbital that he had surgery on three weeks ago.
Rose still hasn't been cleared for full contact, coach Fred Hoiberg said, but assistant coach Randy Brown went one-on-one with him at times Tuesday and used pads to provide Rose with contact.
"I was very encouraged by the session we had with Derrick today," Hoiberg said. "We were in there this morning at about 11 o'clock, and he came in and got a great workout, got a good lift, got a tempo run. And then he got a very good basketball workout where we hit him with some contact, hit him with the pad, put him through the offense with the coaches that were there. And really encouraged by the way he looked out there on the floor today."
Hoiberg remains unsure if Rose will be ready for the regular-season opener next Tuesday against the Cavaliers at the United Center. The trouble is that Rose still has double vision, and his left eye is still somewhat swollen.
Hoiberg responded "we'll see -- hopefully" when asked if Rose will be cleared for full contact by the end of this week.
"The eye still isn't all the way open, and I think until he gets that full vision, he still will not be full, 100 percent contact," Hoiberg said. "But the good thing is we're starting to hit him a little bit, so full contact hopefully isn't too far away."
As has been long been their approach, the Bulls will be cautious with Rose's return.
"The last thing in the world you want to do is put him in a bad situation where he hasn't gone through an extended time of full contact," Hoiberg said. "So we're going to be careful. We'll be cautious with it. I've said this all along: It's a long, long season, and you just don't want to put him out there and jeopardize him. So we'll take a cautious approach, but if he's ready, if he's ready and he feels good, doctors feel good about it, then we'll put him out there. If not, then we'll continue to be patient."
Rose averaged 17.7 points and 4.9 assists while shooting 41 percent in 51 games last season.
In Tuesday night's preseason game against the Pacers, Kirk Hinrich will start in place of Rose, Hoiberg said. Chicago will also start Jimmy Butler, Tony Snell, Nikola Mirotic and Pau Gasol.
Big man Joakim Noah is healthy but will come off the bench.
Cody Westerlund is a sports editor for CBSChicago.com and covers the Bulls. Follow him on Twitter @CodyWesterlund.
