Just when you thought it was safe to trust Derrick Rose …

Working the count deep and seeing a lot of pitches in this blog:

Remember when everyone was talking about the Derrick Rose of old? Everyone includes me, and yeah, all that talking was as recent as Tuesday.

Rose was averaging more than 22 points this month, not to mention moving himself and the ball like Fred Hoiberg’s plan calls for.

He wasn’t the Rose of the MVP year, but he never will be — not with those surgeries. Still, Rose displayed all manner of floor game once he was freed from the shackles of Jimmy Butler’s I-me-mine game.

Turns out, however, when referring to the Rose of old, it means old wounds. It means old habits of sitting out games with old injuries. Or maybe they’re new. Either way, Rose came up lame shortly before game time against the Wizards on Wednesday because of hamstring tendinitis.

It shouldn’t be a surprise, but still, it always is. That’s especially true when it comes shortly before tipoff. It’s like a game of gotcha.

The medical term for Rose’s body maintenance is, I believe, hang loose, E’Twaun Moore.

The confounding thing is, Rose is on pace to play more games than he has in the last three seasons combined. He deserves credit for rehabbing and working his way back to that kind of reliability.

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But when he becomes unreliable the way he did Wednesday night just before tipoff, especially during this kind of run, it just adds to the notion that he’s one of those guys who’ll sit out with body issues instead of play through them, what with all those graduations and free agency coming up.

This has killer possibilities if the Bulls ever again return to a postseason with legitimate chances to win a title with Rose on the roster. Flashing back to Scottie Pippen’s migraine right about now.

So, I guess it’s lucky the Bulls don’t have a championship-caliber roster right now.

Beyond Rose, Jimmy Butler already was out. Same for Nikola Mirotic. Pau Gasol was sick but he played, Doug McDermott sliced off another piece of the wasted-draft-pick criticism, and Taj Gibson was a star in a win over the Wizards. Geez, even Cristiano Felicio even gave the Bulls some good minutes. Must be Hoiberg’s pottymouth.

The Wizards lost to a decimated Bulls team despite a healthier roster and what should’ve been obvious motivation to jump back into a playoff spot. The Wizards also got posterized by Dougie McDunkenstein. The Wizards will be folding the franchise momentarily.

The Bulls announced they named their Developmental League team the Windy City Bulls, and I’m thinking, they should’ve named them the Golden State Warriors to at least fake some kind of championship hopes.

Let’s see: Threatening Tom Ricketts’ mom and calling out the Vicar of Jesus Christ — that’s some Idiot Bingo card Donald Trump is playing.

But, yes, Trump nailed the Ricketts family. He forced Tom Ricketts to come clean. He smoked out the big secret: “The goal is to win the World Series.”

Jason Heyward is popping for a suite on every road trip as a retirement gift for David Ross. That’s Heyward, leading off with a solid hit.

Bears general manager Ryan Pace said letting receiver Alshon Jeffery hit free agency remains an option. A stupid option. But an option nonetheless.

The Bears talk about Kyle Long’s position like they’re playing Whack-A-Mole.

As footbally as John Fox is, as coachy-coachy as he is, how does he talk about gauging a player’s heart by saying you don’t know what’s “behind the left nipple”? Overwrought writers say stuff that way. Footbally coaches don’t have a nip slip like that. But hey, at least Fox finally said something interesting.

The Predators swagger into the United Center on Thursday with seven wins in their last eight road games. They haven’t allowed more than two goals in any of those wins, and they’ve only allowed two goals once. Seems like a time for Jonathan Toews to score for the first time in eight games, and don’t limit yourself to just one, captain.

Joel Quenneville changed the bottom two lines in practice Wednesday, moving Teuvo Teravainen from right wing to center in place of Dennis Rasmussen, who moved to wing, while Philip Danualt centered the other line.

Teravainen has won just 35.37 percent of his faceoffs this season. Danault has won 44.58 percent. Rasmussen has the best faceoff percentage of the three at 44.70, and he’s the one who was moved.

Teravainen at center always sounds like a good idea, but until the Hawks convince the NHL to eliminate faceoffs altogether or until the Finnish kid puts on some muscle, he’s better off centering his line from the wing the way Patrick Kane does.

Hurry, Marcus Kruger.

Adam Eaton said the White Sox are beginning a “culture change” in which they do the “little things” better. Quick someone tell Eaton that hitting the ball and catching the ball are not little things.