Chicago head coach Fred Hoiberg confirmed on Sunday that Derrick Rose will indeed play in the season opener, telling reporters that the guard has been "awesome" and "our most vocal guy in practices," per CSN Chicago's Mike Singer.
Hoiberg said quote - "I don't know if he's going to have a restriction on how many minutes."
Having to undergo surgery to repair a fractured left orbital bone suffered on the first day of training camp, Derrick Rose has not had a lot of time practicing or playing in new Bulls head coach Fred Hoiberg's offense. Rose finally got his experience playing in Hoiberg's system on Friday night in an exhibition matchup against the Dallas Mavericks.
Wearing a mask and still having difficulty at times seeing properly, Rose played only 10 minutes but scored a quick 8 points (4-6 FG). Rose didn't play cautiously, he attacked the basket when presented with the opportunity, unafraid to draw contact.
After the game, Rose raved about Hoiberg's offense and indicated that he will be ready to play in Chicago's season opener against the Cleveland Cavaliers.
>>Wolves President, Coach Flip Saunders Dies
Minnesota Timberwolves president and coach Flip Saunders died Sunday, the team announced. Saunders, 60, had been battling Hodgkin's lymphoma.
Saunders coached the Timberwolves from 1995 to 2005, then spent three seasons with the Detroit Pistons and three with the Washington Wizards. He returned to Minnesota as team president in 2013, and named himself the coach of the team in 2014 after Rick Adelman retired. Saunders' career coaching record is 654-592.
In August, the Wolves announced that Saunders was undergoing chemotherapy and had been diagnosed with cancer eight weeks earlier. Sam Mitchell has taken over as interim head coach.
Saunders will be remembered as a basketball junkie -- he started out as the coach of Golden Valley Lutheran College in 1977 and didn't get his first NBA job until 1995 in Minnesota. In between, he was an assistant at Tulsa and the University of Minnesota, and he spent seven seasons as a head coach in the CBA. In the NBA, he was known as an offensive tactician and one of the first to utilize zone defense in the early 2000s.
