After a successful 2014 FIBA World Cup stint, Derrick Rose now sets his sights on the new NBA season, and he is positive that he could get his first ring anytime soon. In an interview with ESPN’s Nick Friedell during the Chicago Bulls media day, the 2011 NBA season MVP said that his team has an ‘opportunity’ to fight for the Larry O’Brien trophy. The confidence itself from him is already a good Derrick Rose news. Aside from Rose’s elevated confidence, Bulls can also count on their new acquisition Pau Gasol.
"I try my hardest to stay away from [the predictions]," Rose said. "But we know we have an opportunity ahead of us. It may not be this year, it may not be the next year or whatever, but I know that we have one [in us]. I know I'm going to win a championship soon so I'm not worried about that."
And to those who still doubt his return, don’t worry because there won’t any more bad Derrick Rose news, at least that’s what the 25-year old point guard assures to his fans.
"With these two type of injuries, of course that question ... that's just going to come up," Rose said. "I'm not worried about that. I don't care about when people ask me the question I know that it's always going to be there. I'm always going to have to answer this question for the rest of my career so I'm not worried about that. But for the Bulls fans I could sit here and say a million times that I'll be fine but I think the only way to answer all the critics and everyone asking about me is to actually be on the court and actually playing."
Although Rose has shown great promise in his stint with the USA national basketball team in the FIBA World Cup, Coach Tom Thibodeau thinks they still need to be careful.
"We'll see," Thibodeau said. "That's going to be my answer: We'll see. We got to get him into rhythm. He has to work, he has to play. Most guys over the course of a season ... there's a difference between soreness and being injured. So if he's injured he'll sit. If he can play, he'll play. But just take it day by day, we'll see where he is. It's two years now with the ACL so I think he's gotten the confidence back in that knee. But he's got to shake a lot of rust off."
