Derrick Rose's eye surgery has forced him to take more bank shots
Chicago's Derrick Rose required eye surgery after a teammate elbowed him during his first practice back with the Bulls in September.
Surprisingly, Rose says surgery has improved his shooting -- at least in some regard. While that doesn't exactly add up on paper, it does in practice. According to Chicago Tribune, Rose says he started to take more bank shots after his eye surgery. Rose explains that trouble with depth perception forced him to rely more on using the backboard.
Here's what Rose told CBS Chicago back in November about why he's using the bank shot:
"It’s an easy shot.
They’re giving me that shot. I think I shoot off the glass pretty good, and any opportunity I get, I’m going to continue to shoot off glass.”
K.C. Johnson reports that Rose is shooting 69.6 percent on bank shots this season. While there's room for discrepancy depending on what constitutes a bank shot, NBASavant.com indicates Rose is actually shooting an unreal 74.1 percent on shots off the glass, similar to his career rate of 78.4 percent on bank shots.
But before this season, bank shots composed just 1.4 percent of Rose's total attempts. During this season, however, Rose's bank shots now amount to 8.3 percent of his attempts. Compare that with NBA veteran Tim Duncan (known for his fundamental bank shot), whose bank shots compose 11.6 percent of his career attempts.
Rose is shooting well above the league average on bank shots.
So Rose is taking bank shots at a near-Duncanian rate. Except, even more surprisingly, Rose beats the Spurs bigman in accuracy: Duncan has connected on 60.0 percent of his bank shots this season, landing 21 shots compared to Rose's 40.
According to NBA Savant, no one else on the Bulls has attempted bank shots at a more frequent rate than Rose has this season. In fact, Chicago's Bobby Portis has the second-highest bank shot rate on the team -- with 3.8 percent of all shot attempts, less than half the rate Rose has attempted this year.
Rose has made 44.8 percent of his total shots during his career, but he's connected on 78.4 percent of his bank shot attempts.
While it's surprising that Rose's eye injury ended up helping his shooting, it's becoming hard to deny as fans around the league have started to notice his recent successes. Perhaps a change in shooting strategy can help re-invent the former MVP's playing career.
Bryan Kalbrosky produces digital content for FOXSports.com. For more, follow him on Twitter @BryanKalbrosky
