Warning: This is what is called an I-told-you-so column.

I don’t do many of these, and by saying that, I realize I risk being told there’s a simple reason I don’t: I’m so very wrong so very often.

Very, very funny.

But I get the last laugh on this one. After Derrick Rose’s first game as a Bull in October, I described his performance as mediocre.

This is what I wrote for the next day’s Tribune:

“Let’s be clear: This is going to take a while. Not a long while. But there will be good nights and bad nights and blah nights for the kid. But eventually, sooner rather than later, there will be mostly good nights. He will take over games, the way the great ones do.

“In his first NBA game, playing in his hometown, Rose had a decent game, probably a bit closer to blah than good. He had 11 points on 3-of-9 shooting, nine assists and four turnovers in the Bulls’ 108-95 victory.

“He said he would give himself a C if he were handing out report cards.”

The reaction was interesting. People were offended that I had the gall to suggest that Rose wasn’t spectacular in his debut. The No. 1 pick in the entire draft! Chicago’s own! How could I? For some strange reason, even media people were offended. One TV guy said, on air, something along the lines of, “He must have been watching another game.”

No, we were watching the same game, but I was watching it through the filter of what I knew Rose would become this season.

But very few people, me included, saw Saturday’s performance coming. Rose scored 36 points in the Bulls’ victory over the Celtics in Game 1 of their Eastern Conference quarterfinals. His scoring outburst tied the NBA record for points in a rookie debut.

Rose also had 11 assists and four rebounds.

There’s no doubt he was helped by the absence of injured Celtics center Kevin Garnett, who would not have allowed Rose to get to the basket so often. But there’s no taking away how good Rose was before fouling out. The explosiveness that was on display even when he wasn’t playing particularly well this season was there for a national TV audience to see.

No point guard should be this good as a 20-year-old. You don’t see many guards have success like this right away. Isiah Thomas. Chris Paul. Derrick Rose. He’s from that same hoops lineage.

Lots of rookies stood out this season–O.J. Mayo, Michael Beasley, Eric Gordon, Russell Westbrook–but Rose should be the rookie of the year. If he were getting graded, he’d get a solid B for the regular season. As it is, he’s already one of the best point guards in the league.

But again: 36 points good? No, nobody saw that coming. When it arrived, however, it looked right.

I’ll admit I’m wrong when I’m wrong. I’m inching in that direction on Joakim Noah, but I can’t bring myself to say he’s a good player. And he had 17 rebounds in Game 1. Hard to ignore that or what he did in the last half of the season. I’ve gone from being an atheist on him (I don’t believe he can play a lick) to an agnostic (I’m not sure if he can play).

Back in October, I was sure Rose was going to be great. Sooner rather than later, I said. Sooner arrived very quickly. Told you so.