I can’t believe it — after missing 96 games Derrick Rose decided not to come back in the middle of a physical, intense playoff series to be guarded by Lebron James. Shocking. Who could have possibly seen such a thing coming?
Despite all logic and all evidence to the contrary, some weak reports started to fuel a whole “Rose is likely coming back for Game 3 at home” momentum that was always just ridiculous. But that never stopped a good rumor before.
Tom Thibodeau killed it on Friday at shootaround — Rose is not playing in Game 3. Neither are Luol Deng or Kirk Hinrich.
Deng didn’t sound like he would be back saying he dropped 15 pounds due to complications from a spinal tap. Hinrich had a second MRI showing muscle damage in his leg but the injury is not healing.
In the case of Rose, this is not a shock but it’s not going to play well with some in Chicago — they look at Iman Shumpert being back, with Rose being past the original timeline laid out for his injury, that he has been cleared by doctors and say he should be back.
As I have said all along, Rose is right to make the decision he is most comfortable with, his PR mistake is just leaving the door open. And that is his mistake — Rose wants it that way. Not the Bulls. Not Tom Thibodeau. Not anyone but Rose. As long as he says he might come back the team has to play along, and Rose isn’t willing to put the dream of this season away publicly. For whatever reason.
But this is no time to come back.
First, if he’s not comfortable he shouldn’t. Being cleared by doctors doesn’t make you healthy — just ask Grant Hill or Bill Walton about that. If he is experiencing any pain, or if he is just not comfortable yet playing his game — which is based on explosive moves and fast stops — then he should sit out. Not you, not me, not radio talk show hosts, not anybody but Rose knows what his knee feels like and when he’ll be ready.
More importantly, this would just be a bad time to come back. He’d play 15 minutes off the bench, be shaking off rust, and the Heat wouldn’t take him lightly he’d get LeBron and Norris Cole (a good man defender) locked up on him with quick doubles coming. It’s one thing to go from practice 5-on-5 games to a regular season game — even that is a jump that takes adjustments — but to go to a playoff intensity game against one of the most athletic and aggressive defenses in the game is another. Rose would struggle and hurt the team at this point.
I’d tell him to just say he’s shutting it down until next season, but the time to do that passed three weeks or so ago.
