The upcoming week will mark 11 months since Derrick Rose underwent surgery to repair a torn left ACL. The prognosis for his return was eight to 12 months.
Derrick Rose will be out when the Bulls try and defeat the Detroit Pistons for the 19th straight time on Sunday and there will be just six games remaining in the regular season for the Bulls afterwards. With each day passing increasing the likelihood that he’ll miss the season altogether, Rose hasn’t yet ruled himself out and on the possibility of a return said he’s “keeping it open.”
"I'm not trying to think about that right now," Rose told reporters. "I'm just trying to get better. I'm just trying to help my teammates, give them confidence to go out there and play hard, and just be a great teammate.
"I'll play whenever I'm ready to play. Who knows when I'm ready to? Right now, all I can do is just cheer on my teammates."
Rose also wouldn’t mind playing with restricted minutes when he comes back and shot down a notion that he’s was holding out to come back next season when he would be even stronger, have more time to work on his game and body and not need to be limited minute-wise.
"I wouldn't mind [playing limited minutes] at all," he said. "Of course I want to play more, but it's not that big. I'm going to play whenever I'm ready. I don't care if it's 15 or 40 [minutes]. I just love the game too much. I'm just waiting, just praying about it and hopefully I'll be out there soon."
Joakim Noah and Marco Belinelli could return against the Pistons as Bulls’ coach Tom Thibodeau said he’s “optimistic” and the pair is doing a lot better.
Comments