Bulls coach Fred Hoiberg confirmed Sunday Derrick Rose will play in Tuesday's regular-season opener against LeBron James and the Cavaliers.
Rose made his preseason debut on Friday after suffering a fractured left orbital during the first practice of training camp. He wore a mask throughout his two five-minute stretches, and Hoiberg is still unsure what his role will be come Tuesday.
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“I don’t know if he’s going to have a restriction on how many minutes, although conditioning is still a concern," Hoiberg said, via CSN Chicago. “We play three in four days to start this thing off, so we’ll have to be a little more careful with him just because he hasn’t had a ton of reps out there. I don’t know exactly how many minutes, but it will be good to have him out there.”
Bulls power forward Taj Gibson doesn't believe there's anything wrong with Rose.
“I think (Rose) is in top form,” Gibson said. “He’s been doing great in practice. I think the mask, I don’t know, I think it’s the mask. We’ve been talking a lot of trash to him, and he’s been responding well. We’ve been really getting into him, throwing so many bodies at him, and we couldn’t stop him today.”
That's good news for Chicago fans, because the Bulls may need to put up some points against James and the Cavs. And Hoiberg knows it.
“(James) is so good, he’s a freight train at getting down the floor with the ball in his hands. He’s a great passer, he can hurt you on the glass,” Hoiberg said. “You just have to try and make him hit jumpshots. You have to give up something with him.”