Rose, who had surgery to repair a tear to the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee on May 12, has been videotaped dunking off each foot, but more casually than he would during a game. A source said that although he has been practicing and scrimmaging hard, he told the Bulls that until he feels “in his mind” he can confidently dunk off his left foot in a game situation, he is not 100 percent mentally ready to return to competition.

The team is not pressuring Rose, the source said, but the Bulls are confident he will return this season and are still hoping for a mid-March return, which would mark 10 months after his surgery. The Bulls play at Golden State on March 15.

The source said the team has been assured by Rose’s doctor that there is no more chance of the former MVP getting injured upon his return than anyone else and that the doctor told the Bulls that physically “he can play now.” Rose is now dealing with the psychological side of trusting his body.

Rose, 24, raised the possibility that he wouldn’t return at all this season during an interview on Feb. 13 after the Bulls lost to the Celtics in Boston, which was the last time Rose spoke publicly.

“I’m feeling good, but like I said, if it’s where it’s taking me a long time and I’m still not feeling right, I don’t mind missing this year,” he said. “I would love to [return]. I would love to. That’s why I approached my rehab and my workout so hard. I’m trying to get back on the court as quickly as possible, but if I have anything lingering on, it’s no point.”

Since that interview, Rose has taken part in 5-on-5 scrimmages, beginning on Feb. 18.

He began sitting on the bench with the team on March 3.

Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau said after practice Friday that there are no new developments with Rose, and that the clearance for Rose to play in a game “hasn’t been finalized yet.”

“He’s doing everything there is to do in practice, so he’s been cleared from that standpoint,” Thibodeau said.

When asked whether Rose would be able to play in a game if he says he is able to, Thibodeau said: “We’ll cross that bridge when we get there. We’re just going day by day. Just keep improving.”

“Definitely getting stronger and stronger every day,” guard Nate Robinson said. “Hopefully, he’s right on time and right on schedule. He’ll be back when he’s ready.”

Thibodeau said the decision for Rose to play will be made by several people.

“There’s a lot of people that got to sign [off],” Thibodeau said. “Obviously, he’s the most important piece. But from Jerry [Reinsdorf, Bulls owner] on down, everyone has to sign off on it.”

As far as what Rose is doing in practice, Thibodeau said: “He’s doing everything. He’s participating in every part of practice.”

Thibodeau also said the Bulls are prepared to move on with or without Rose. “We’ll see what happens,” he said.

The perception that Rose wouldn’t return this season was enhanced on Feb. 22, when his brother Reggie Rose told ESPNChicago.com that the Bulls’ lack of activity before the trade deadline would be a “big factor” in whether his brother would return.

“It’s frustrating to see my brother play his heart and soul out for the team and them not put anything around him,” Reggie Rose said at the time.

Derrick Rose assured the Bulls, the source said, that he did not share his brother’s sentiment and issued the following statement: “I have always felt that the Bulls organization’s goals have been the same as mine and that is to bring another championship to this city.”

Bulls officials from Thibodeau to general manager Gar Forman, vice president John Paxson and all the way up to Reinsdorf have said they won’t rush Rose back. Reinsdorf told ESPN Chicago in August 2012 that he didn’t want to make the same mistake he made with Michael Jordan after Jordan broke a bone in his foot during his second season in 1985. Jordan returned and didn’t suffer another injury, but Reinsdorf has said that it was a risk he didn’t want to take with Rose.

The Bulls have told Rose that while they will support whatever decision he makes, they would prefer he return this season, the source said, “and get it under his belt, rather than wonder all summer if he could.”

Rose is considered the franchise cornerstone and signed a five-year contract extension worth more than $94 million in December 2011.

“There are a lot of kids out there that would love to see Derrick Rose come back and play,” Robinson said. “He’s a role model. Everybody looks up to him, including my kids. My son asks every day, ‘Dad, when’s Derrick coming back?’ I’m like, ‘I don’t know.’ It’s funny. Derrick’s sitting right next to me on the flight, so when I Skype my son, I take a little peek. He’s like, ‘There he is, let me talk to him.’ I’m like, ‘You can’t talk to him, just let him be.’ But (Rose) is working extremely hard, and that’s one thing I definitely respect about him. He’s very humble and he works extremely hard in the game that he loves.”

The Bulls enter action Friday in sixth place in the Eastern Conference.

The post Source: Derrick Rose cleared to play appeared first on IdealCapper.

Rose said he isn’t sure when he’ll return to the floor.

“I really don’t know,” he said. “I’m feeling good, but like I said, if it’s where it’s taking me a long time and I’m still not feeling right, I don’t mind missing this year.”

Rose said he would like to play this season but isn’t sure if his body will heal in time.

“I would love to,” he said. “I would love to. That’s why I approached my rehab and my workout so hard. I’m trying to get back on the court as quickly as possible, but if I have anything lingering on, it’s no point.”

Rose’s told USA Today Sports on Monday afternoon that he was still “far away” from returning and wouldn’t come back until he was “110 percent.” Rose did acknowledge late Wednesday night the decision to play is his and he would listen to his inner circle of trusted associates and Bulls’ personnel.

“(Agent) B.J. (Armstrong), of course. People from the organization, (Bulls GM) Gar (Forman), (Bulls VP of operations John Paxson), all them people. Trainers, just people that I will normally be around every day. But it’s really on me to make that decision when I’m going to play again, so that’s cool that they left it up to me.”

Rose, who injured his knee in the first game of the Eastern Conference playoffs on April 28 and had surgery on May 12, admitted he is still struggling with gaining his explosion back. The next step?

“Being able to dunk,” he said. “I can’t dunk, man. I know if I can dunk off stride, I know I’ll be out there playing, but I can’t.”

Still, Rose’s spirits appear high. He has accompanied the Bulls on the road since the first of the year and is enjoying being with his teammates.

“Right now, I’m feeling pretty good, man,” he said. “Where (I’m) slowly getting back in the mix. The other day we played the 3-on-3, one-on-one, and I felt good out there. I’m not trying to rush myself, just still trying to be patient and just trying to take my rehab very serious right now.”

Paxson said earlier Wednesday that Rose will participate in 5-on-5 practices after this weekend’s All-Star break.

Meanwhile, Rose admitted he’s struggling to regain both his mental and physical confidence.

“It’s both still,” the former MVP said. “My leg still isn’t feeling right. Mentally, I think that I’m fine. Just every week just try to do something different. Every day stay on my rehab, do a little bit more, lift a little bit more, squat a little bit more and taking it very serious.”

Rose said he has not taken a hit on the knee but isn’t concerned about that aspect of his recovery.

“I’m not afraid of that, though,” he said. “I know that’s going to happen with the way that I play. I’m not scared of taking hits at all.”

He does not believe his game will change because of the injury.

“I’m working on my shot but you’re not going to label me as a shooter,” he said. “I’m going to be someone that can consistently hit a jump shot, but my game is always going to be driving.”

Rose acknowledged that he has watched the recovery of current and former players who have recovered from ACL injuries.

“I’ve been looking at the people in the past where everybody I think is coming back better,” he said. “So it’s exciting to know that all my hard work is going to pay off one day. I just don’t know when.”

Does he feel any extra pressure to return?

“(None) at all,” Rose said. “That’s the last thing I’m thinking about is coming back too soon. I know that it’s all on me, so I just got to make the decision when I’m ready.”

The post Derrick Rose may sit out season appeared first on IdealCapper.

The Bulls already are without two starters in Kirk Hinrich (elbow) and Derrick Rose, who is still recovering from ACL surgery. The Bulls lost to the Brooklyn Nets minus those four players on Friday but came back on Saturday to beat the Hawks in Atlanta.

“I feel pretty good, but just give it a couple more days and try to go on Thursday [at Denver],” Noah said before Monday’s shootaround. “I don’t think I’ll be able to go tonight, but I’m just moving in the right direction and hopefully by Thursday I’ll be ready to go.”

Noah has missed the past two games with plantar fasciitis, the same injury he dealt with for most of the season three years ago. He believes he caught the injury much earlier this time.

“The one in [the 2009-10 season] I just kept playing through it,” Noah said. “I kept playing through it, I probably played with it for a month until I couldn’t anymore.

“This [time], I stopped a lot earlier. I probably played on it for maybe five, six games and I just knew what direction it was going in. In [2009-10], I just tried to act like it wasn’t there and just play through it and it was a mistake. I feel like with a couple more days of treatment I think I’ll be OK.”

That treatment includes rest — something Noah has tried to get plenty of over the last few days.

“Rest, ice, laser treatment,” he said. “I actually shot around [Sunday], but no jumping, no running, just resting really.”

Noah is confident that with some more treatment he can get rid of the problem for the rest of the year.

“I feel like you definitely learn from your experiences,” he said. “I’ve been through this before so I kind of know what to expect and I’ve gotten all the treatment for this before, and I’m hoping that a couple more days rest and I’ll be back at 100 percent and I won’t have to deal with this anymore.”

As for Boozer, he seems more confident he may be able to play Monday night. He has missed the past three games because of the hamstring injury that he originally suffered in the first quarter a week ago against the Bobcats.

“It will be a game-time [decision], but I feel good,” he said. “If it feels good, I’ll be out there.”

Bulls head coach Tom Thibodeau officially termed both players as game-time decisions, but he also sounded more confident that Boozer would be able to play.

“He’s feeling better,” Thibodeau said of Boozer. “We’ll see where he is tonight. Each day he’s gotten better, he’s close.”

The post Joakim Noah likely out appeared first on IdealCapper.

Rose’s rehab from his April 28 injury and May 12 surgery has steadily progressed to the point that there are no longer any physical limitations.

“He’s full-contact, yeah,” Thibodeau said before Wednesday’s morning shootaround as the Bulls prepared to face the Milwaukee Bucks.

The likely date of Rose’s return is after the Feb. 17 All-Star Game.

“He can do all the cutting, he can do shooting, he can go off the dribble,” Thibodeau said. “So it’s just a matter of him getting acclimated to playing in a game situation.

“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. And we have to make sure that he’s ready to handle that intensity.”

Bulls chairman Jerry Reinsdorf and executive vice president John Paxson said recently they’re going to be cautious with the 2010-11 MVP.

“We don’t have the defined plan yet because Derrick is still progressing,” Paxson said Friday on “The Waddle & Silvy Show” on ESPN 1000. “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.

“We can’t sit here today and say he’s going to be back in three weeks or after the All-Star break. Those things are a hope, but his body is going to tell us and then when we get to that point, that’s when we’re going to have to sit down and determine, after we talk to our doctors and everything, then determine our game plan of minutes and how best to bring him back. We don’t want to bring him back and then have a setback because he wasn’t totally ready. We want this to be a progression where he comes back, he starts to play and every week he gets better and feels better.”

Reinsdorf consistently has maintained Rose won’t play in a game until doctors assure him he’s ready.

“There’s no date,” Reinsdorf said during an interview with WGN-TV on Monday. “The doctors say that he’s doing everything that he’s supposed to be doing and there’s no specific date.

“He’s not going to come back until the doctors say unequivocally that he has no greater chance of getting hurt than any other player. If there’s any risk, he’s not coming back.”

The Bulls head into action Wednesday 1½ games in front of Indiana atop the Central Division and in third place in the Eastern Conference. Reinsdorf said there will be an acclimation process when Rose returns, but Carlos Boozer, who’s been playing his best basketball with the Bulls in Rose’s absence, said it won’t be a problem.

“I just think we get better, man,” said Boozer, who is nursing his own hamstring injury. “I look at it as we’re going to improve quite a bit. He’ll make a seamless transition, he’s here every day, he’s practicing every day, and we do a good job of putting people in positions to be successful. So I think for us it will be a seamless transition and we’ll just be more dangerous.”

Thibodeau appreciates the mindset that his team has kept while waiting for Rose to return.

“That’s not a change,” Thibodeau said. “Over the course of a normal season those are the things that you have to deal with. Injuries are part of the game, so when we laid out the plan in the beginning of the season we said this is the way we’re going to approach this. Everyone concentrate on their improvement each and every day, focus on the opponent that you’re playing; Derrick will handle his rehab.

“You could take Derrick’s name out and substitute another player — when there’s an injury that’s how you have to deal with it and everyone focus on improvement, and hopefully down the stretch you’re playing your best basketball of the year and you’re as healthy as possible. So whether Derrick’s there or not, the approach would be the same. “

The post Derrick Rose taking full contact appeared first on IdealCapper.

But sources told ESPN.com this week the Lakers might be forced to reconsider that position between now and the Feb. 21 trade deadline because of Howard’s growing unhappiness with his role under coach Mike D’Antoni and the potential that raises for Howard leaving them in July without compensation.

Lakers general manager Mitch Kupchak, however, said that a trade is not imminent.

“I don’t think we’re at the point where you say, ‘It’s time for a trade,’ and a trade happens in three to four days. That’s just not how this league works,” Kupchak said in a phone interview with ESPN.

Howard has not publicly indicated any desire to sign elsewhere when he becomes an unrestricted free agent July 1 and came to Los Angeles determined to succeed with a minimum amount of fuss after the hits he took image-wise during his drawn-out departure from the Orlando Magic. But sources say that Howard, as the Lakers’ struggles have mounted, has dropped hints within team circles about his discomfort in D’Antoni’s system and that he could consider moving on if things don’t improve or change.

Howard has, indeed, publicly struggled to mask his frustration in recent days about his role in D’Antoni’s offense. After Monday’s road loss to the Derrick Rose-less Chicago Bulls, in which he finished with eight points and attempted just five shots, Howard said: “They made it tough. I missed some shots early, didn’t get an opportunity to go to work like I wanted to.” When pressed further, Howard repeatedly pointed at a stat sheet (showing five shot attempts) and insisted the Lakers needed to “play inside-out.”

“There’s nothing I can do,” Howard told reporters in Chicago. “Just continue to play. Not get frustrated. As hard as it is, I can’t get frustrated.”

The Lakers, sources say, have been telling interested teams that they don’t want to make a major move of any kind between now and the trade deadline given how tumultuous their season has already been. Following the much-heralded offseason acquisitions of Howard and Steve Nash, Mike Brown was fired after just five games and replaced by D’Antoni after the Lakers flirted with bringing back legendary coach Phil Jackson.

In addition to rebuffing the trade interest in Howard, Lakers officials are also reluctant to trade Pau Gasol for players who fit D’Antoni’s system better — despite Gasol’s recent demotion to the bench — because they still have no assurances Howard will stay beyond this season and don’t want to risk losing both of their elite big men after trading away Andrew Bynum in the original Howard deal last August. The Lakers’ league-high $100 million payroll likewise makes it difficult to seriously consider deals involving Gasol because the Spaniard’s $19.3 million salary would almost certainly require them to take back long-term contracts they want to avoid. L.A. has been trying to preserve the considerable payroll flexibility that it’s on course to have in summer 2014.

The Lakers knew when they acquired Howard in a four-team deal with Orlando, Philadelphia and Denver that the 27-year-old would not immediately sign a contract extension as part of the trade because the league’s new labor agreement makes it more financially advantageous for Howard to wait until July to sign his next deal. But the resulting uncertainty those circumstances bring for the Lakers has only added to the pressure felt throughout the organization as they sit seven games below .500 at the midpoint of the 82-game regular season.

When the Lakers hired D’Antoni, it was with the vision of Howard thriving alongside Nash as Amar’e Stoudemire did in Phoenix, operating as the “roll man” in a pick-and-roll offense driven by Nash as opposed to a traditional back-to-basket center.

None of those visions, however, have come to bear yet. With Nash missing seven weeks with a leg fracture — including D’Antoni’s first 16 games in charge — and Howard still recovering from back surgery last April while also coping with a recent shoulder injury, timing between the two has shown few signs of improvement.

The inability of Howard and Nash to find pick-and-roll harmony has likewise had a ripple effect throughout the roster, with the increasingly under-fire D’Antoni demoting Gasol from the starting lineup Tuesday because he feels Gasol and Howard are both most effective at the center position and haven’t learned how yet to play off each other well.

Howard and several other players have soured on D’Antoni’s perimeter-oriented offensive system, sources told ESPN. A few have gone to him about slowing down the tempo and playing inside-out, but so far D’Antoni hasn’t been willing to change.

“Without a doubt, we have utmost confidence in Mike as a coach,” Kupchak told ESPN. “I think if you spoke to him, his vision on Day 1 was dramatically different than it is today. It’s the coach’s job to adjust and to make changes. Sometimes a player is just not going to fit. Sometimes a coach has to make changes and compromise in the way he’s done things and I think that’s what Mike is going through right now is just the process.”

“Obviously, this isn’t working,” Lakers star Kobe Bryant told Yahoo! Sports after the Chicago loss.

“I’ve tried to go out of my way to get (Howard) the ball. Sometimes I end up looking like an idiot, because I get up in the air, I’ve got a shot, but I try to find him. But he thinks I’m going to shoot, so his back is turned. I’m trying to think about getting him the ball a lot — take care of him as much as I possibly can. It takes me out of rhythm a little bit, but I’m fine with that. If that’s going to help our team, I’m more than willing to do that.

“I’ve constantly tried to help him out, tried to talk to him,” Bryant continued. “Two o’clock in the morning, three o’clock in the morning. Texting him. Sharing reading materials. Anything to try and help him.

“He’s coming off a major surgery in a market where it’s just merciless; where there’s demands and responsibilities of athletes. It’s been tough on him.”

The blame in L.A. has been widespread, with both Howard and Gasol facing criticism for not battling through these tough times with the needed resolve. D’Antoni getting second-guessed with rising volume for not tweaking his spread-the-floor system to accommodate his marquee players and Bryant critiquing himself this week for missing too many shots on an 0-2 road trip that has spiraled into six straight losses away from Staples Center and three straight losses overall heading into Thursday’s game at Memphis.

Explaining the lineup change that elevated Earl Clark to a starting spot over Gasol, D’Antoni told reporters in Chicago: “We got to go small. That’s just the way it is. It’s after [Gasol] had a great game (with 25 points on 10-for-15 shooting Sunday in Toronto). It’s not him. I talked to him and he understands where we have to go and we got to do it.”

For his part, Gasol said he was “not happy about” the switch but added that “right now I’m more worried about us as a team and us struggling.”

The Lakers have strongly believed from the start that Howard would stay in Los Angeles for the long term, pointing to the franchise’s rich tradition with big men and the fact that they don’t make a habit of losing their own marquee free agents. But those assumptions were based on the notion that Howard, once he got a taste of the Lakers’ championship culture and all the ancillary benefits that come with playing in Los Angeles, wouldn’t want to play anywhere else.

These Lakers, however, are miles away from a championship culture. The Chicago loss, its ninth in January, dropped L.A. to 17-24 and down to 12th place in the Western Conference, four games behind eighth-place Houston for the West’s final playoff spot.

In a radio appearance two weeks ago on ESPNLA 710, Lakers executive vice president Jim Buss said he was confident Howard would want to stay in Los Angeles regardless of how this season ended up.

“If we make the playoffs, that means we’re playing well and I think we’ll go deep in the playoffs and it’s a no-brainer that he stays,” Buss said in the January 10 radio interview. “I think if it continues to fall apart because of injuries, I’m hoping we can convince him: ‘Look, everybody was injured, you weren’t 100 percent for the whole year, let’s give it another shot next year.’ It points to 95 percent that we’ll be able to keep him. I can’t control what he does, but I can sure make a great argument.”

The Lakers, beyond all the perks associated with playing for them, have the advantage of being able to offer Howard more money and years than any other team thanks to the NBA’s collective bargaining agreement. But they’ve gone just 2-4 since Buss’ comments, with the negative atmosphere around the team only growing amid all the losing.

Calls for D’Antoni, who received a four-year contract in November when he took the job, to go away from small-ball preferences only figure to get louder in the wake of the fresh concerns voiced by Bryant.

“We need to go back to basics,” Bryant told Yahoo! “We need to put guys in positions to do what they do best. We need to strip it down. Steve is best in pick-and-roll. Pau is best in the post. I’m best from the free-throw line extended down. Let’s go back to basics.

“We’ve got to evaluate what’s going on. Management is looking at it. The players are looking at it. I’m looking at myself. I’m shooting a low percentage right now, and I’ve got to look at that. It’s on me to make shots, but I’m having to make tough shots, getting the ball 30 feet from the basket and [expletive] like that.”

Earlier this month that there’s no shortage of rival executives who believe that the Dallas Mavericks and Atlanta Hawks — who’ll both have the requisite cap space to steal him away — would get serious consideration from Howard if he decides to explore his options in free agency.

“I have it as Lakers, Dallas or Atlanta for Dwight,” one Western Conference GM said recently.

The Brooklyn Nets are believed to still strongly intrigue Howard as a future destination after the Nets’ long-running attempts to trade for him last season. But after re-signing Deron Williams and Brook Lopez last summer and taking on more than $300 million in long-term salary commitments, Brooklyn can only acquire Howard via trade now, which would likely require an additional team (or teams) to join in even if the Lakers were amenable.

The post Los Angeles Lakers growing concerned over unhappy Dwight Howard appeared first on IdealCapper.

“It’s good,” said coach Tom Thibodeau before Wednesday’s 96-94 win over the Magic. “He’s been around the whole time. You guys don’t see him as much as everyone else does, the team does, I should say. So I don’t think it’s that big of a deal. It’s the next step in the progression for him. He’s getting up to speed with everything offensively, defensively, his teammates.

“It’s just the next step, and he’s got to continue the things that he’s been doing and the team has to continue to focus on our improvement and our opponent and then at some point he’ll be ready to go. But he still has some time to go, everyone has to be patient, but it’s good to have him around.”

Rose, who has been doing all the noncontact drills in practice for the past few weeks, is still likely a month or two away from seeing the floor. The Bulls have not wanted to place a target date on Rose’s rehab, and Thibodeau reiterated that stance on Wednesday. When asked about a possible return around the All-Star break, Thibodeau was noncommittal.

“It’s when he’s ready,” Thibodeau said. “So that’s not anything that has changed from the start of the season, it’s when he’s ready. It’s not going to be sooner, later, ‘this is the target date,’ it’s just when he’s ready. So he’s doing practice, the predictable contact in practice, the next step will be regular practice, then he has to be able to go through regular practice for a while. And then, if everything goes well, then he plays.

“But there’s no time schedule so it’s everything according to plan. It’s just the next step. There’s several steps he has to go through. There’s several more that he has to go through — so everything’s going well, nothing has changed.”

Aside from a promotional campaign by adidas, Rose has tried to stay out of the spotlight as much as possible. He walked into the Amway Center wearing headphones Wednesday and said hello to reporters.

Thibodeau doesn’t believe Rose’s presence on the road will give his team, coming off a disappointing loss to the lowly Charlotte Bobcats at home on Monday, much of an emotional lift.

“The thing is he’s already been in practice and they see him doing his rehab, so that part is … it is what it is,” Thibodeau said. “He’s not out on the court and that will be eventually what we have to do. He’ll be part of the group. But right now everything’s good, our team has to keep working, just focus on the improvement. Derrick has to continue to focus on what he has to focus on, and at some point he’ll rejoin the group.”

Rose also will travel with the Bulls to Miami for their game against the Heat on Friday night.

The post Derrick Rose travels with Bulls appeared first on IdealCapper.