Detroit Pistons 2019-20 preview: Derrick Rose’s profile
Blooming once more
What can the Detroit Pistons expect with Derrick Rose?
Good question.
Even during and after his injury woes, Rose has been an offensive playmaker. That much is known. It won’t always be the most efficient and it definitely can be detrimental to the team, but his ability to score has never been in question. His antics? Yes, but never his scoring ability.
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Which brings the first main expectation with the Rose project. Do not expect him to shoot 37 percent from beyond the arc this season. As a career 29 percent 3-point shooter, replicating that efficiency seems quite implausible. Impossible? Maybe not, but I wouldn’t bet my house on it.
I’d anticipate him coming off the bench for a majority of the games. The thing with him and Reggie Jackson is that they’ve both been injury-prone over the years. Rose has played 60-plus games in a season twice since 2011 and I’d expect that trend to continue. Jackson has spent two of the last three seasons playing less than 52 games. However, he did play in all 82 games this past season.
Rose can still give a team a solid 26-plus minutes a game. If I’m Dwane Casey, maybe I decrease his minutes a little bit to try and preserve his health. The Pistons can make the playoffs this year and a healthy Rose in the playoffs is worth the “load management” that other players have received.
Related Story. Will Dwane Casey feature more two-point guard lineups?. light
Casey, a fan of two-point guard lineups, could very well use Jackson, Rose, and additional new face Tim Frazier in heavy rotation. The more minutes and games for Rose mean the more likely he is to miss time, especially when it matters.
Best case scenario for Rose is that he makes it 70 games in the regular season and is healthy for the postseason. He’ll command a bench unit that was strongly lacking in scoring and efficiency last season. It wouldn’t shock me if he pushed 19 points per game off the bench, but I fully expect his shooting numbers to trail off from last season, probably shooting in the mid-40s for overall field goal percentage and low-30s from beyond the arc.
His addition to the team is an upgrade over Smith and fits Casey’s ideal two-point guard lineup well, a role that Smith’s play style wasn’t most ideal. He helps the bench out while also being able to provide as a quality starter if Jackson misses time, which might be likely.
Let’s hope that his health remains a priority for the coaching staff this season.