Top Ten pieces of advice for Derrick Rose

May 20, 2008 might be the day that the Bulls fortunes ended up changing for the better. That was the night of the NBA draft lottery when the Bulls, despite finishing with only the league’s ninth worst record, got the number one pick. In a way, it doesn’t even seem right that John Paxson got bailed out of his many mistakes by catching one lucky break. So, looking past Derrick Rose’s little knife accident (hey at least he was eating an apple and not gummy bears), here are ten pieces of advice I would give to Rose.

10. Don’t pass the ball to Tyrus Thomas, Joakim Noah, or Larry Hughes (unless it’s a lob to Tyrus) Thomas and Noah are shooting a combined 36% from the field, and after 11 years in the league, Hughes still hasn’t met a shot he doesn’t like (although so far this season he is shooting way above his career average). I don’t know which is worse: watching Thomas think he’s Amare Stoudemire and take 15-foot jumpers, or seeing Noah try to make a post move. Hey Paxson, how good would Brandon Roy and Spencer Hawes look instead of Tyrus and Joakim right now? How about LaMarcus Aldridge and Al Thornton?

9. Don’t ask your teammates for advice
Don’t ask Gordon and Hughes what constitutes a good shot. Don’t ask Deng, Nocioni and Hinrich how you go about playing up to your contract. Don’t ask for workout advice from Tyrus and Joakim. Most importantly, don’t ask anyone on the team the secret to winning games in the NBA. They may have been able to tell you a couple years ago, but ever since last year, they have forgotten. Also, don’t grow too comfortable with any one teammate either. Any of them, with the possible exception of Deng, could be gone sooner rather than later.

8. Don’t take losing too hard In his last two years at Simeon and one year at Memphis, Rose lost a combined total of eight games. Rose lost eight games with the Bulls in less than a month. And after winning two state titles in high school and nearly a national title at Memphis, I wonder how Rose could deal with not even making the playoffs. Just remember Derrick: it’s not your fault that the rest of the team is pretty awful.

7. Don’t worry about running set plays When Vinny Del Negro calls a set play for Gordon to launch a contested 20-foot jumper, for a Deng isolation or for Gooden to post up, it might not be a bad idea for Rose to instead just drive to the basket. After all, what’s Del Negro going to do, bench him? Something good usually happens three out of every four times Rose gets to the basket.

6. Start getting on Paxson about the free agent class of 2010 Maybe Rose should give Paxson an ultimatum: Sign Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh, or Amare in two years, or say you’ll threaten to walk in 2011. Not that I’m encouraging that, but I wouldn’t blame Rose if he called out for some reinforcements.

5. On off days, get a lot of rest and make sure you’re eating well
Remember back in the preseason, when a lot of people thought Rose would be brought along slowly and the team wouldn’t put that much on his plate right away? For the Bulls to have any chance to win most nights Rose has to play close to 40 minutes and the ball needs to be in his hands a good majority of the time. It does make you wonder how he will adjust to playing an 82 game schedule. I’m not worried so much about Rose feeling the pressure of making the Bulls relevant again, but more how his body and particularly his knees will hold up for the next four months.

4. Look to set up your teammates early in the game If you watch guys like Kobe, LeBron, heck even Jordan back in his day, the great ones usually try to get their teammates involved right away. With this Bulls team, that is almost necessary. Gordon, Deng, Gooden, and Nocioni all like to shoot, and when their shots are falling early on, that’s usually a good sign for the rest of the night. As we’ve seen a couple of times already this season, (Golden State/Utah), it’s better for the Bulls when Rose starts looking for himself in the second half, especially the fourth quarter.

3. Don’t pull a Jay Williams and set the franchise back another couple years Here was the thing about Williams: In his rookie year, he averaged less than 10 points and five assists, and shot under 40% from the field. Yet people around the league were still convinced he was going to be the league’s next great point guard. So then what does that say for people’s long-term expectations for Rose? Scary. Luckily, I can’t see Rose ever riding a motorcycle, or doing anything else that might put his career in jeopardy.

2. Shoot for one SportsCenter Top 10 play every game
The Bulls would be totally boring if not for Rose. People go to Bulls games or watch them on television really only to see what Rose will do next. When Ricky did a post last week on the top ten Derrick Rose highlights, it got linked right at the top of ESPN’s TrueHoop, and with good reason.

1. Don’t fall in love with your hype This is a trap I don’t envision Rose falling into. He seems very humble, very down to earth, and very driven to turn the Bulls back into a contender. Then again, we said the same thing about the Bulls young nucleus three years ago, and look how that has turned out. Rose knows there are things he still needs to improve on; getting stronger and finding a consistent jump shot are the big two. I would be very surprised if Rose doesn’t eventually make the type of leap into stardom that Chris Paul has made.