However shaky, that’s a big step for Derrick Rose

Nobody’s sure who’s in charge of Derrick Rose’s availability each game, but it’s starting to look as if that person is — are you sitting down? — Rose himself.

More importantly, the person in charge of Rose’s availability is making the Bulls star available even when he’s not 100 percent.

Stop the presses. Let’s get past the Bulls’ amateur act the last few games that has marked the breaking news alerts regarding Rose’s playing status. He’s in. No, wait, he’s out. No, forget it, he’s in.

The actual news was that Rose played against the Bucks despite ankle injuries. He worked the perimeter a lot. He worked a smart floor game. But he played. That’s the thing.

It shouldn’t be such a big deal. But Rose and his decision to listen to his inner circle instead of doctors made this week a big deal. Part of the progress with Rose’s mental approach is Tom Thibodeau’s influence. Has to be. Every game, every possession, every dribble is life and death.

Part of it also might be Pau Gasol’s presence in the locker room. A winner with Kobe Bryant, Gasol knows the value of having the best players on the court, even when they’re not at their best.

After the win over the Bucks, Gasol made sure to talk up what Rose’s presence means in any game and that Rose at 70 percent is better than a lot of players fully healthy.

But the biggest part of this story is Rose’s apparent spasm of reality, however late, that there is no comeback unless he comes back to play through pain. It appears that Rose has finally learned that he’ll never be the shiny new car the Bulls screeched off the lot in 2008. That warranty expired. Drive as is now.

Rose made the decision to play Wednesday and play through whatever. He was less than 100 percent.

That’s an important point in a season marked by heightened scrutiny of the way Thibodeau divvies up minutes. It’s also important because we all remember Rose’s aggravating refusal to play at anything less than perfect while less-talented teammates were breaking bones and throwing up in the playoffs.

Fact is, Rose was becoming basketball Mark Prior. But this apparent step forward, however painful, seems newsworthy. Newsier than the win in Milwaukee. Newsier than anything else so far this season.

Oh, wait, I just noticed that Thibodeau played the 34-year-old Gasol only 35 minutes against the Bucks. Sweetheart, get me rewrite.