Rose has entered this season with a bit of a bang, and is already showing signs of his old self as he comes off his torn ACL injury that made him miss the entire 2012-13 NBA season. Rose, however, has dealt with neck soreness all week, which almost made him miss the Knicks game.
Rose has been wearing tape on the back of his neck lately, and wore it in the win over New York. Rose joked that he may wear it all season, as he claims it makes him feel loose and play better. Rose wears the tape on both sides of his neck.
"As long as the league allows me to," Rose told ESPN Chicago on if he will continue wearing the neck tape. "If I have a breakthrough game I might wear it the whole year."
This isn't the first time Rose has dealt with neck pain. He actually missed a game three years ago because of an issue in that area. The 2011 MVP claims that the tape is helping him perform better.
"Keeping my neck stable. When you have a crick in your neck it's kind of hard to turn side to side so it's kind of keeping my neck in line and making sure my vertebras are safe."
Bulls head coach Tom Thibodeau has no problem with Rose's tape procedure: "He thinks it helps him. So we're good with it."
Though he went lights out in the preseason, Rose hasn't been completely dominant as many have said he has been this season. Looking closely, he's only 11-38 from the field shooting. Obviously, it's not too big of a deal considering he's still rusty. He'll eventually improve as the season goes on.
Rose is so far averaging 15 points, 3.5 rebounds and 3.5 assists per game. Rose thinks he'll be fine as the season progresses. And as for the neck tape, we might all have to get used to that.
"I'm telling you, if I have a breakthrough game I'm real [superstitious]. If I break through it might be it."
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By Josh Dhani
