Derrick Rose travels with Bulls on road trip; February return still expected

For the first time in nearly nine months, Derrick Rose will travel with the Chicago Bulls on their two game road trip to take on the Orlando Magic and Miami Heat Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun-Times reports  No, Rose won’t be wearing his Bulls jersey.  Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau said this was planned in part to get Rose back in the groove of traveling with the team, as he is on course to begin full contact practice in the next few weeks. Thibodeau on Rose’s return stated:

Whether it’s after the All-Star break, two weeks after, it’s when he’s ready. We don’t want to put a date on it. I think it’s just going step by step. When he makes it through some practices for an extended amount of time, there’s not any soreness the next day, we’ll make a decision then, but he’s still got a long way to go.

This is great news for NBA fans, and really great news for Bulls fans.  With Rose being ahead of schedule and the potential MVP season that Adrian Peterson just had coming of the same injury, there may be room for some optimism.  It will be interesting to see if Rose still comes with the aggressive style fans have become accustomed to over his short time in the League.