Tom Thibodeau happy with Derrick Rose's contribution in limited minutes
Knicks guard Derrick Rose brings the ball up court against the Hornets in the second half of an NBA game at Madison Square Garden on Wednesday. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
CLEVELAND — Derrick Rose has played sparingly this season, healthy again but limited to 13.1 minutes per game after a 14-minute effort against the Cavaliers. But for now, both Rose and Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau seem content.
“I’m here to do whatever they want me to do,” Rose said Friday night after playing 15 minutes in Milwaukee. “It’s not on me, it’s on Thibs and the staff to do whatever they’re doing to try to find me minutes. It’s not up to me.”
“We’re still early in the season,” Thibodeau said. “We want to see how everything unfolds. I like where he is. He missed some time, so he’s still working his way through things. We’ll see how it unfolds.”
Rose scored seven points and shot 3-for-5 on Sunday.
Despite his limited time, Rose has gotten the Knicks’ second unit moving, pushing the pace and converting shots at an efficient rate. He has hit 52.6% of his shots overall and 47.1% from beyond the arc.
“I like the fact he’s helping us play fast,” Thibodeau said. “He puts a lot of pressure on people. He gets into the paint. The thing that probably doesn’t get enough attention is he’s really become a very good shooter, terrific three-point shooter now, and that’s much-needed for us. Just his all-around play, his experience, I think he gives guys confidence. Game’s not too big no matter what the circumstances are.”
Barrett finding his shot
RJ Barrett hadn’t been making shots, connecting on 37.8% overall and 14.3% from three-point range before Sunday’s game. But Thibodeau said he has seen signs that Barrett is approaching the right shots, confident that they will fall.
Barrett shot 3-for-4 from beyond the arc Sunday. “Just went in today,” he said. “It’s good to see a few go in for sure, but I’m always confident. I work too hard.”
“It’s fine. I think the thing that he hasn’t made is threes yet, but I know he will,” Thibodeau said. “Attack the rim. The biggest thing is attacking the rim. I thought we got to the line, the last game we did less fading away at the rim, more attacking the rim. I think that’s important.
“Obviously, the whole idea is shot profiling. When you look at what people are doing in the league, it’s attack the rim, in the restricted, free-throw line, corner threes. Those are your value shots. So the more of those that you can make and create — so it’s not just taking them and making them, it’s also creating them. So it all goes hand in hand.”
Steve Popper covers the Knicks for Newsday. He has spent nearly three decades covering the Knicks and the NBA, along with just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.
