It’s the elephant in the room nobody wants to discuss. The injury riddled Derrick Rose is once again out for the rest of the season to repair the torn meniscus in his right knee. The same knee that forced him to only play in 10 games last season. Just as we were starting to experience the old MVP caliber Derrick Rose back, Chicago received the gut punch Tuesday night that Rose would miss the rest of the season for the same injury he suffered last season. Rose was playing excellent basketball going into The All Star break he seemed to regain the electric first step and killer instinct that helped him have early success in his career.
Unfortunately, nearly four years after Rose becoming the youngest player in NBA history to receive the MVP award leading Chicago to a 62-20 record. After the latest injury Rose will be mentioned in the group of players like Bill Walton, Grant Hill, Penny Hardaway, Yao Ming, “Pistol” Pete Maravich, Brandon Roy and many others players that either displayed their Hall Of Fame like talents (Walton, Maravich) or like the others showed they can play at a All Star level but cannot stay on the court due to injury. Rose sadly is mentioned in the same breath for now.
Derrick Rose may have suffered this significant injury, but players like Amare Stoudemire and Shaun Livingston (who suffered one of the worst knee injuries of all time) have shown that they can make comebacks of their own. Obviously they’re not playing at the high level they did before the injury, but both have important roles on their teams. Assuming Derrick Rose does comeback will he take a minutes limit of some sort or even a role change of some sort for a year or so? I don’t think so. Rose has the mentality of a star and wants to be THE guy on his team.
Rose’s biggest hurdle in this recovery will once again be what’s going on between the ears and overall confidence. Confidence in the first move he makes that his leg isn’t going to buckle and send him to the ground or the leap he makes to convert a crazy layup that he will land or be able to without hurting himself.
Derrick Rose is one NBA star I think gets a lot of unfair scrutiny for playing for Team U.S.A this summer which didn’t exactly excite The Chicago Bulls Front Office or the drama that surrounded Rose for sitting out as many games as he did to make sure he was completely healed from his first meniscus tear. Rose loves the game of basketball there’s no doubt about that. It’s just sad to see when a player loves the game it can be such a cruel game in return in Derrick’s case.
Rose should attempt to make another comeback and I think he will make the comeback until he cannot walk that’s just who he is. He is a self-motivated person and he wants to be in the same breath as the all time greats like Magic Johnson, Isiah Thomas, and John Stockton guys we still talk about today that had such a huge effect on the game of basketball and I think Rose will not stop until he is either in the same discussion or his body just won’t allow him to do so.
Will we ever see the 2010-2011 D Rose? Sadly not.
Not saying Rose can’t play at the high level or he lacks the skill to do so, because we all clearly know he has both. The question is though for how long can he play at that high level? Or how long until it all catches up with him the minutes he logged in his career (12,011) may not seem like a lot, but for not playing in 3 seasons basically shows it could play a role. I think Rose makes this comeback, but this one will be his toughest comeback yet and The Bulls need to talk to him about having some serious sort of minutes restriction which would be in his best interest at this point.
Rose will be his own worst enemy in his head he is the guy that can log 35 minutes a game and do it all, but his body just cannot physically do it. Which could possibly put his career in jeopardy when it’s all said and done.
