No Pain in Spain? Check

Now that the FIBA World Championships have wrapped up with a U.S. gold medal in hand, Bulls fans the world over can breathe a collective sigh of relief.  Derrick Rose avoided the same fate as Paul George and will report to the new Advocate Center for training camp at the end of the month ready to go.  However, many seem more willing to look past that and focus on his less-than-stellar performance in Spain instead.

During the tournament, Rose came off the bench to average 4.8 points and 3.1 assists.  Not bad for someone who was playing his first real action on two reconstructed knees.  He considered it the beginning of his rehabilitation with the second part coming up in just a couple of weeks.  At the same time, there are whispers that this is an indication of what is to come for Rose during this NBA season and beyond.

While the concern that his knees won't give out again has subsided for now, the bigger fear for many is that the production he once put out there consistently is gone for good.  Since the Bulls have constructed their roster around him with the hopes that he'll return to MVP form, this surely can't be good news for them.

I call on anyone with this line of thinking to relax.  Be glad he didn't choose to go all out like he did during last year's preseason games.  Sure, it would have been nice to see him take over more, especially after Team USA coach Mike Krzyzewski implored him to do such.  But keep in mind he might have been content with taking a back seat on this team in favor of others who were more than capable of walking to the gold medal with their eyes closed.

Also consider that Tom Thibodeau was watching everything his star was doing all this time.  If he didn't like what he was seeing, I'm confident he would have taken Rose aside and told him to just go off.  Of course, this could also be a sign of Thibodeau changing his ways of not forcing his players to win at all costs.  That probably hasn't happened, but at least he showed some restraint while working under Coach K this summer.

I'm not worried in the least about Rose.  He knows when the right time will come to unleash the player we've come to know and love.  Before long, he'll be facing the competition he's truly trying to beat by himself in order to win a championship.  This coming year could be his best shot while the new Big 3 in Cleveland attempts to gel together before it really starts to get scary.  Maybe I'm giving him the benefit of the doubt too much, but I've always considered players with great potential as simply lying in the weeds.  That's just me.  Take it for what it is.

This will be the last bit of international ball we'll have to hear about for awhile.  Now, we can start to focus on more than just the Bulls who were trying to help the U.S. defend its world championship.  Just as importantly, we can look at what they'll try to accomplish during the coming NBA season.  Along the way, we should be blessed with more memorable moments from Rose.  I'm confident we will.