This will be a pivotal year for Derrick Rose. I’m not sure why he’s been getting such a bad rep after he was able to lead Chicago deep into the playoffs last season, but this trend was noticed by NBA.com writer Sam Smith as well. The analyst, who has covered the Chicago Bulls for many years, believes that Rose will be playing with a vengeance this season, and Smith even brought up Michael Jordan‘s offseason after his 1995 early playoff exit. Could a revenge spree on the league’s top point guards possibly be coming?

Apologies for the length of this excerpt from Smith’s mailbag below, but I just wanted to draw notice to the MJ comparison made as well as John Calipari‘s compliment about the point guard.

“Anyway, I spent considerable time talking about Derrick, as you note, and about the way the basketball world is mostly dismissing him. Yes, it’s understandable given the three years of injuries. Sports Illustrated with an NBA rating feature had Rose ranked 60th best player in the league. Another basketball site had him 13th best point guard. If your fantasy league has Rose ranked 60th, pick him and I guarantee you win the league. It’s speculation for all of us, of course. I go by a few things, mainly Rose being able to train without coming off surgery for the first time since 2011 and that inner drive hearing how he’s being so widely dismissed. I’m not yet likening it to Michael Jordan in 1995, but Jordan’s poor shooting when he returned from baseball and being downgraded that summer after Nick Anderson’s infamous No. 45 is not No. 23 comment helped drive Jordan to lead the Bulls to the greatest season in sports history. I’m not suggesting Rose will do that, but I wouldn’t want to be many of those now top rated point guards against Rose this season. I ran into John Calipari at the Hall of Fame enshrinement a few weeks ago, and he was raving about Rose’s attitude and condition in talks with him during the summer. Calipari kept saying regarding Rose, ‘It’s on.’ I think that’s positive. But I do agree, a lot depends on Rose and Noah returning to high level form if not quite MVP candidates. I believe both will; so then we can blame Hoiberg.”

Isn’t it nice that Smith is giving us permission to blame Fred Hoiberg if things don’t work out well this year? That’s a great safety net Bulls fans can use in case Rose doesn’t play up to form.

I’m expecting an exciting year of basketball from Derrick, because it has been so long since he was able to come off a long postseason where the PG played every game and then had a full offseason to work on his game. We should see him return to All-Star form as a result, but it will be interesting to see if Jimmy Butler‘s rise will at all diminish the role that Derrick plays on the Bulls. This isn’t a bad problem to have if you are coach Hoiberg; however, the egos of professional athletes are quite large, and it might be disastrous if either of those players decides they are bigger than the team.

