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Derrick Rose to return to game action, six weeks after knee surgery

Kelly Dwyer

How excited are the Chicago Bulls to have Derrick Rose back in the lineup?

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Try, “we’re having a shootaround and meeting with the media at 8:30 Chicago-time-level-excited.”

Derrick Rose is back:

Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau told the media that Rose would only play for about 20 minutes against Orlando on Wednesday. Chicago has five games left in its season, which wraps up one week from Wednesday.

Rose then met with the media, via K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune:

"I've been putting a lot of work in, busting my ass to get back," Rose said before shootaround. "I'm just happy that I’m able to come back to a team where I think we're playing all right basketball. I think defensively we're playing good. Offensively, I shouldn't have to worry about it, just come back and play the way I normally play."

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The Bulls don’t know which play Rose re-tore his right meniscus on in late February, just that the meniscus would have to be repaired for the second time in 16 months. Rose underwent a shorter operation this time, one that will be more damaging to his future prospects but would leave him with a quicker recovery time. Rose is nearly six weeks removed from his Feb. 27 surgery:

"This one is totally different than my last ones. I was only out six weeks," Rose said. "The other ones I was out four or five months. I just have to pace myself this time. I got a lot of confidence in myself. But who knows how many games it’s going to take me (to find rhythm). All I can do is just continue to work on my game and push my teammates for this playoff run.

"It gave me a little time to rest. Everybody else is beating each other up. I'm coming in fresh. I will come in better. So it’s a little bit of excitement on my end."

The Bulls and Rose cited conditioning problems as the final roadblock getting in the way of Rose returning to action, as the team’s point guard started practicing with the team last week. Derrick was unable to keep in typical NBA shape while staying off the knee for most of March, so it’s understandable that he’s going to need a few games to catch his breath:

"I'm going to be winded for sure. Just missing so many weeks, so many days, you’re going to be winded. That comes along with coming back from surgery and not playing the game in a couple weeks. (But there's) relief that I got enough time to get some games under my belt and see where I am."

Our thoughts on Rose’s return and his team’s play prior to the final week of the regular season were included in our stretch-drive collective that went up on Ball Don’t Lie on Tuesday:

Chicago has gone 10-10 in Rose’s absence. They’ve improved slightly defensively, but they’ve also had to play center Pau Gasol big minutes and push Joakim Noah into games and situations his surgically repaired right knee (still recovering, ten months later) shouldn’t be working in. The dream of Gasol and Noah acting as frontcourt stunners, whipping the ball around and filling the holes in one’s head with bumps from another, hasn’t been fully realized. Both players are unselfish and they’ve been stellar at times, but both also play far better in lineups that don’t pair the two together.

Rose himself wasn’t exactly stellar in his healthier moments this season, he managed 18.4 points and five assists a contest but he also took a ridiculous 5.5 three-pointers a game (in only 31 minutes a contest) despite shooting 28 percent. His defense, once passably-bad, was miserable.

This doesn’t mean Chicago is a squad to be overlooked:

Rose will need every bit of those final five games (it is unclear if he will play in Miami on Thursday, the second night of a back to back) to regain his conditioning. From there the Bulls’ best hope is that 15-4 record, and the ability for the coaching staff to shorten its rotation, define specific roles, and hone in on a singular target as the NBA playoffs start in a week and a half.

The Bulls went 10-10 in Rose’s most recent absence, and while they lost some games they shouldn’t have the team probably played better than that mediocre record indicates. The Bulls currently are slated to take on the Milwaukee Bucks in the first round of the playoffs, a team they have beaten three out of four times this season. It is quite possible that Chicago could line up against the Cleveland Cavaliers, a team Rose downed in perhaps his most impressive game of the season this year just two weeks before his surgery, a full nine weeks after his operation.

It starts on a random Wednesday in Orlando. The Bulls, albeit winded and unfamiliar with each other, are in full.

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Kelly Dwyer

is an editor for Ball Don't Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at KDonhoops@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!