Is "The Return" upon us?
These days, it's hard to say when it comes to the pending return of injured Chicago Bulls superstar point guard Derrick Rose, but the sight of Rose practicing with the team again this week sure shows promising signs.
On Thursday, Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau told the media that Rose had engaged for the first time in a non-contact portion of the team's practice.
This development represents new progress for Rose, who has only been involved with Thibodeau called "pre-practice" work and individual shooting drills in the last few weeks.
Rose has been sidelined since last season when he tore his ACL in the opening round of the NBA Playoffs for the Bulls against Philadelphia.
On ESPN Radio, Thibodeau spoke of Rose's progress as being right on schedule.
"He's right on schedule," Thibodeau said on "Mike & Mike In The Morning" on ESPN Radio. "He's not ahead of schedule. He's not behind. We have to be patient. It's the type of injury that you have to take your time with, and when he's ready to come back, he'll be ready to come back. There is no time scheduled for it."
Thibodeau's words reflect the cautionary attitude by the Bulls organization regarding Rose, who won the 2010-11 NBA MVP award for the Bulls and is considered to be among the Top 3 point guards in the league.
Without Rose, the Bulls are barely holding onto their lead in the Central Division at a 14-10 win-loss record, though they have won seven of their 10 games behind the resurgence of Bulls forward Joakim Noah.
"He's doing a lot, but he hasn't done anything with contact," Thibodeau said. "So we're going to go step by step. First he has to get into practice and he has to practice well for a while. And then we'll move on from there.
However, Thibodeau says, he was hoping that Rose would rejoin the Bulls during the second half of the regular season.
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