Detroit Pistons guard Derrick Rose has continued his reclamation project during the 2019-20 season, which has led to the discussion of why Pistons head coach Dwane Casey has not unleashed Rose on the remainder of the league like many believe that he should.
“Believe me — nobody loves Derrick Rose more, and I wish he could play 80 minutes out of 40. But he can't,” Casey said, per Rod Beard of The Detroit News. “So we have to protect him from himself. It's up to the medical people; it's their decision and it's their plan.”
Rose has averaged just 24.4 minutes per game this season, despite being on pace to set a new career high in field-goal percentage (49 percent overall). Even with an MVP Award in his trophy case, Rose has never had a season per 36 minutes like this year; at 24.8 points per 36 minutes, he is on pace to set a career high in that category as well.
Casey has had to be selective as to when he deploys Rose. He noted the distinction by saying:
“If you're a starter, your minutes are going to get ramped up. I'm watching the clock to see what we can get in there. To start the second half, it's very difficult to stay under that and also be in at the end of the game.”
The Pistons enter the day 2.5 games out of the eighth seed in the Eastern Conference and if they are to snag that spot, Rose will undoubtedly have a lot to do with it.
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