"I get to play my game," Rose said. "Before I made it to the league I think I was a facilitator. The NBA made me into a scorer. I had to score my first year with the Bulls, and I think you'll be able to see my passing abilities once I'm here. My job is to facilitate, be aggressive at the same time, be a threat always when I get the ball."
Lue said seeing Rose's passing ability up close has impressed him so much that he went back to study clips from the 28-year-old's career on Synergy, a video analytics service popular among NBA and NCAA coaches, to see just what type of passes he can expect Rose to make in the Cavs' offense.
"More than anything, he's just playing free and he looks good," said
Kevin Love, who shares a trainer, Rob McClanaghan, with Rose. "He's not carrying any weight in any way, whether it's physically or on his shoulders, any burden in that respect. I think for him that's huge. Coming out here and having a lot of fun playing basketball, and you can see that, especially when we go 5-on-5 or we're just out there playing our sets."
Haven't been a Rose fan over the years, don't think he's anywhere close to being as good as Kyrie, but I have higher hopes for him this year than I do for Wade. I think Wade is shot athletically but Rose is young enough and has enough physically that if his knees are OK and his attitude is good we can realistically hope for a solid starter with flashes of all-star form at times.