The haughty arrogance of a teenager that believes he is invincible. The world can’t touch him, no matter how brashly or foolishly he behaves. This describes the attitude of Bulls fans during the glory days of their beloved point guard Derrick Martell Rose.
The 6 foot 3 inch, freakishly athletic homegrown product of the Windy City held the hopes and dreams of the City of Chicago on his 190 pound frame. From 2010-2012, he could do no wrong. The heartbreaking loss in the playoffs to the Miami Heat was quickly scapegoated; the blame placed on a variety of other players particularly the frequently targeted Carlos Boozer.
But the next season, a cruel fate-induced joke during the first round of the playoffs changed everybody’s perspective. It turned an entire city, the majority of it anyway, against their formerly exalted hero. The questions of whether Rose would ever “bloom again” and return to the days of old were pushed to the forefront. As this article is being written, Derrick Rose continues his journey to prove to everybody that he is back.
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One of the biggest obstacles preventing a return to his old form, is the question of whether Derrick Rose can muster up the internal confidence to fully trust his knees again. Externally, Rose has been exuding elite-level confidence. It is borderline cocky, but perfectly in line with the highly ego-charged environment of the NBA. Despite his recent struggles with his shot, Rose told reporters that this hasn’t hurt his (external) confidence in the least.
"“My mentality is not going to change,” Rose said. “I’m going to shoot the ball. I’m a scoring guard. And it’s mid-range. It’s ain’t like I’m shooting nothing but threes. Tonight they didn’t go in, but at the end, some of them did.”"
Rose also maintains that his teammates’ outward trust in his abilities has worked to solidify his own confidence in himself.
"“It’s really my teammates giving me that confidence,” Rose said. “Even … when you’re missing shots like I am the last couple games, teammates are still giving me the ball, still talking to me, giving me confidence, telling me to shoot the ball, still giving me the ball in position to shoot the ball. I’m fortunate.”"
The reliance on the three pointer and other varieties of outside shots could be a byproduct of his caution regarding his knee. For every ounce of confidence that Rose expresses externally, there might be an equal amount of doubt internally about whether his knees can hold out through an entire season.
Rose’s internal confidence is improving; however, it is reasonable to assume that unwanted thoughts about tearing up his knees again randomly pop up throughout the course of some of these games. This theory goes a long way towards explaining why he attacks early and often in some games yet the next night becomes passive once again.