Derrick Rose tore the ACL in his left knee on April 29 against the Philadelphia 76ers, ending a hyper-impressive run by the Chicago Bulls to start Tom Thibodeau's head coaching career. A lot has changed around the Bulls since Rose went down.
The same self-proclaimed 'Bench Mob' that contributed to so much of Chicago's success has been replaced largely by less expensive players. Omer Asik turned into Nazr Mohammed, Kyle Korver turned into Marco Belinelli, Ronnie Brewer turned into Vladimir Radmanovic, C.J. Watson turned into Kirk Hinrich. With so much turnover on a roster that won the most regular season games in the NBA over the last two years, a good number of local basketball fans aren't particularly happy with the way the Bulls have gone about business. It makes sense that Chicago is already giddy for some good news regarding the return of Rose.
Even if he's not even four months into rehabbing an injury that should keep him sidelined for 9-12 months, our introverted hometown hero remains the savior, the lone figure who can lift the city out of its post-Jordan championship drought. On Wednesday, Rose's chief sponsor, adidas, dropped a new video hyping up Rose's comeback. It ends with the words "D. Rose will rise."
Check out the video, after the jump....
Kudos to adidas for turning D. Rose's stationary work into something dramatic enough for a Batman movie. One thing you won't notice Rose do in the video: run. It's a sign the Bulls' superstar is still very far away from returning to the court. While it's comforting to see Rose work his way back into shape, this will be a long process. The most optimistic projections put the point guard back in the lineup after the All-Star Game. Until then, videos like this one will be all we have.