SH Blog: Derrick Rose gained 10 pounds of muscle, says he is more explosive and a lot quicker

There were a few notable players from last season who barely saw, if at all, any playing time due to significant injuries. The immediate names that come to mind are Andrew Bynum, Derrick Rose and Danny Granger. How these players return from their year-long absence in the upcoming season is obviously critical for the success of their respective teams.

With training camps fast-approaching, there is still a sense of uncertainty when you think of some of those names. Bynum, in particular, is nowhere near ready for the preseason, which is of great concern: his status is essentially the same as where it was all of last season. Granger still hasn’t given much of an update on how his knee has progressed (more on him below) either. So what about Rose? 

We’ve seen some signs of activity from him over the summer, but there’s no telling how he will play and what is to be expected of him when the season begins. He went an entire season without playing basketball, so there is bound to be a period of adjustments. The most important thing, though, is that he has taken great care of his body and appears ready to be himself again, from Adam Figman of SLAMonline:

“Right now I’m in training, and I’m getting a lot stronger. I gained 10 pounds of muscle. I don’t know how that’s going to carry over to how I play on the court, but I know it’s going to be very weird. I’m shooting a lot of shots right now, working with Rob, just putting memory back in my leg.” “With me, I was always kind of strong, but the way that I play, I hit tricky lay-ups and all of that stuff because going to the hole in my neighborhood, they don’t call any fouls, so I was just used to hitting all types of shots. Now this year, I got a little more strength behind me, so I think going to the hole, taking those shots, I’ll be able to finish a lot stronger this year. There should be a lot more and-ones, hopefully.”

“I think I’m a lot quicker, a lot more explosive, and I think I’m gonna go this year without that many nagging injuries, just trying to prevent it by stretching and doing all the things I have to do to take care of my body. When you first come in the League and you’re talented and you’re athletic, you don’t care about stretching or anything. You just kind of go out there and overlook that stuff. But now it’s my sixth year, so you really have to look at that and take that more seriously so I can prevent all of the little injuries.”

So essentially during his off-time, Rose has become a better shooter, is much stronger, quicker and more explosive than what he used to be. That sounds pretty scary for the rest of the league if he can put all those improvements together and have it translate on the court. It’s hard to grasp what to expect from the former league MVP at this point, but based on his thoughts alone, it sounds like much better times are ahead for the Chicago Bulls.

Onto other news from around the league (10 items):

• Deron Williams is excited to hear that his name comes up for possible MVP considerations heading into the season, from Jared Zwerling of Bleacher Report: “Two new members of the Nets, coach Jason Kidd and sixth man Jason Terry, have said Williams should be in the MVP conversation in 2013-14. And that has D-Will pumped up. “It definitely excites me when they’re talking about you like that,” he told Bleacher Report. “I feel like if we’re winning and I’m playing well, it will take care of itself. I don’t get caught up too much into that stuff.” The highest Williams has placed in the MVP voting was ninth in 2009-10…”I definitely want to get back to running, and I think we want to as well. I think it’s good. I’ve had a lot of success playing a lot more up-tempo, like my time in Utah, and I want to get back to playing like that. I think even though we’re an older team, we still have guys that can run the floor. Like Paul [Pierce] and KG [Kevin Garnett]; even though they’re older, they can still run. They’re smart basketball players, so it’s not about being the fastest guy; it’s about being efficient and being smart about how you play.”
  
  Pages: 1 2