“I got confidence in my (surgically repaired left) knee,” Rose said. “There's no testing anymore. It's going out there and playing hard and attacking.”

Derrick Rose after first practice: 'I feel back'

After not playing for 18 months why is Rose being given a rest day after 2 days of practice?

I bet he already has his suits picked out for this season.

DEERFIELD, Ill. -- Chicago Bulls superstar Derrick Rose has his mental edge back. After sitting out all of last season while rehabbing from a torn ACL he suffered on April 28, 2012, Rose looks -- and sounds -- like a man who is ready to prove all his critics wrong.

While discussing what it will mean to him to be back on the floor against a different team in Saturday's preseason opener against the Indiana Pacers, the former MVP said it doesn't matter who he is playing, he would approach the game the same way.

"I'm a guy where whoever's on the court I'm going to go at them," Rose said. "If it's my teammates, it could be my mom on the court, she's going to get killed. I could care less who [is out there]. For me, I'm just trying to build that mentality where I don't care who's out there, I'm going to play the same way."

After sitting out almost a year and a half because of the knee injury, Rose is excited about the opportunity to compete again with his teammates.

"I'm ready," Rose said. "I'm just ready to go out there and play. Every day I'm getting stronger, I haven't had any setbacks. I'm just looking forward to the day where I step on the court."

Rose sat out of the scrimmaging portion of Monday's practice for what Bulls head coach Tom Thibodeau called "planned rest," but he said he didn't have any problems with the organization's decision to hold him out.

"I don't fight it," Rose said. "I know that it's for my health. I know that it's going to better me as a player and really get me rest. Like today we went really hard at it in practice, scrimmaged two times and I felt good."

Teammates and coaches have consistently praised the way Rose has handled the first part of training camp and the star point guard is hoping the transition back into the starting lineup can be seamless.

"I'm just going to go out there and play my game, play aggressive," Rose said. "My guys, the rest of my team, they're already in a rhythm. [Now they're] putting me into the equation, just trying to get my rhythm back and go out there and try to play a simple game and play aggressive."

Thibodeau said Rose looked "great" in Wednesday's practice and Rose sounded confident that he would fall back into a rhythm quickly. He was the last player on the floor after practice while getting extra work in with coaches.

"I've been feeling great," Rose said. "I've been feeling great other than fatigue I don't have any other problems."

Nor does he have a problem with Michael Jordan neglecting to mention his name in a list of superstars the Hall of Famer could take in one-on-one.

"I'm good … I'm good … I'm good, man," Rose said with a smile. "I'm all right."

Rose did say that were he to play Jordan in a game of one-on-one at the height of his powers, the former Bulls great "for sure would be beat up after the game."

"It was going to be a hard-played game even if he was going to post me up the whole time or whatever," Rose said. "I was going foul him the whole game."