Derrick Rose has "turned the page" and is now restriction free in navigating his NBA return, Chicago Bulls VP John Paxson told ESPN this week.
"Unless he would come up with something that would concern us, but we have no concerns right now," added Paxson. "You look at the preseason, and I think coach Tom Thibodeau has done a really nice job of kind of amping up his minutes."
And Rose has done an even more impressive job of making the most of them. Over the last three games, he's averaged 27.3 points a game and averaged 27 minutes. All the athleticism, explosiveness and ability to finish around the basket have been on full display as Rose has led the Bulls to a perfect 6-0 preseason.
"Look, Derrick wants to play," Paxson told ESPN. "He's not coming to us to put any limitations on him. As an organization, we don't want to play him 48 minutes a night, but in the 35- to 38-minute range, that's what he was going to do anyway and I don't see that changing."
That's pretty much where Rose workload was at during the 2010-11 season--- 37.4 minutes--- when he became the youngest MVP in league history.
"He has been fearless," Paxson added. "The way he has attacked the basket, his ability preinjury to change speed in real tight spaces like he showed against the Thunder on Wednesday, with some of those crossovers and sidesteps past defenders, those are things that he had prior to the injury, and he has obviously shown that and more here in the preseason. The fact that he feels the confidence in this knee that you can just see out there on the floor, that's a great sign for him."
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