553 days.
That’s how long it’s been since Derrick Rose has played an NBA game that counts (he just played in seven preseason contests). Rose missed the entire 2013 season after tearing his ACL during the first round of the 2012 playoffs against the No. 8 seed Philadelphia 76ers — who eventually won and took the Boston Celtics to seven games themselves.
Rose, of course, missed the 2012 playoffs as well after leading the Bulls to the No. 1 seed in the East. Chicago tied for the best record in the NBA with 50 wins during the lockout-shortened season. Many experts expected the Bulls to down LeBron James and the Miami Heat that year, beginning a reign of their own.
Of course, Miami went on to win the NBA title two months later, and tonight Rose watched King James and co. raise their second consecutive championship banner.
None of that matters now, though, because Rose is back. Look out below.
Rose scored the Bulls’ first basket of 2013 on a stereotypical D-Rose bucket: a full-extension, double-pumping, finger-rolling, defender-splitting layup that no one finishes quite like Rose.
Check out a GIF of the crazy layup below.
