Derrick Rose Return: Are the Bulls Considering Starting Rose out in D-League Before Return?

Practice makes perfect...or in this case, practice makes safety for Derrick Rose.

The Chicago Bulls star is able to take full contact now, but the Bulls, even embroiled in a tight race for the Central Division crown and with some of their top stars missing, the franchise is not rushing back their superstar player.

""You have to understand that in practice you're striving to get as close to a game-like intensity as you can, but you also have to understand that you're not going to be able to get there, so that will be a whole different level," Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau said last week. "And we have to make sure that he's ready to handle that intensity."

That being said, one possibility that the Bulls may be considering is having Rose, who is getting his once-torn ACL back in shape, play in a few D-League games.

"We don't have the defined plan yet because Derrick is still progressing," Bulls GM John Paxson said Friday on" on ESPN 1000 regarding Rose's progress. "The way he feels and what his body tells him is going to dictate how we do things. But I can tell you one thing - and this is for certain - he's going to have to have a high volume of practices and contact, and where he's comfortable on the floor doing things that he used to do naturally. And that takes some time and he's just starting that process now.

NBA.com's Steve Aschburner suggested that a way for Rose to get those high numbers of practices under his belt would be for the former league MVP to start playing with the Bulls' NBA afflilate, the Iowa Energy.

"There's nothing inherently more risky about playing in the D League - chances are, those opponents might yield a little bubble of safety and respect to Rose that he won't get against NBA defenders. The idea been brought up on occasion in the past - Elton Brand offered to play for Anaheim in March 2008 while rehabbing from a torn Achilles," Aschburner writes.

The NBA columnists also notes that Rose will find it difficult to get practice time coming in with the Bulls currently having players such as Joakim Noah (foot) and Carloss Boozer (hamstring) on the mend with various ailments. Participating in the D-League would give Rose the chance to start becoming more acclimated to NBA play.

Aschburner also notes that baseball players often are sent to the minor leagues to rehab from surgeries before returning to the main roster, and with the NBA's collective bargaining agreement allowing such stints, the Bulls could be wise in considering having Rose do the same.

"Look, if the D-League is all about prepping players for the NBA and strengthening rosters, that's precisely what some brief rehab visits might produce," writes Aschburner.