Derrick Rose still out as he recovers from torn ACL

Rose has been rehabbing a torn ACL for over 14 months after suffering the injury in April 2012. Many expected Rose to return at the end of the 2012-13 season, but the point guard wasn’t ready and had to sit out the entire season. Many fans and some media members felt he was slow-walking the process, but the Bulls publicly supported him throughout the entire ordeal.

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Rose was medically cleared to return to action in mid-February, but he never quite worked up the confidence to get back on the floor to test his repaired ACL. Thibodeau thinks the media overreacted to the situation with Rose during the season:

After all of the hand-wringing and arguing about the unique, personal nature of Rose’s recovery and his state of mind regarding the health of his left knee, it feels a bit odd that Thibodeau is the mouthpiece for this good news. For months, Bulls fans were told that Rose, and only Rose, could decide when he felt ready to return to the floor. Now the best injury update in over a year happens to come from someone else speaking on Rose’s behalf and communicating his mental mindset to the masses?

Derrick Rose received a lot of heat to sit out the entire NBA season even after doctors considered his torn ACL good to go, but he has at least one important person in his corner: Bulls executive John Paxson.

The Bulls’ vice president for basketball operations lauded his team’s star’s dedication to his body, even comparing it to that of ex-teammate Michael Jordan, and said critics who called for his return as the team went through the playoffs were too harsh on the 2011 MVP, according to the Chicago Tribune:

Rose’s decision to willingly sit out drew the ire of many fans in Chicago because it was a largely unprecedented move. Lots of athletes have sustained a torn ACL over the last decade, but few (if any) have chosen to take over 12 months to recover. That Rose chose to sit in spite of his doctor’s recommendation that the next step in his recovery process was to play in games made the Bulls star the target of frustration for some in his home city. The Bulls’ gritty performance in the postseason through numerous injuries didn’t help Rose’s cause.

Beal was also quick to note that he had never experienced an injury as significant as Rose’s. Taken as a whole, Beal’s comments might not be terribly controversial, but it still marks the first time an NBA player has done anything other than support Rose.

Sunday marked one year since Rose underwent surgery to repair a torn ACL suffered in the first round of last year’s postseason. Rose now sits outside the eight-to-12 month period outlined for his rehab, but it appears that he remains content to sit out the season and return next year.

Rose has come under fire for not returning to the court despite being cleared to play nearly three months ago. He has reportedly been dominating in practice, but he maintains that he’s not ready to test his knee out in an actual game. The former MVP has said he’s still trying to regain his “muscle memory” and wants to be able to play without thinking too much on the court.

It’s been suggested that Rose looks perfectly Rosian in practice, which indicates that the final hurdle to get on the court is mental. Three thoughts on that angle in all of this.

But that lesson, or a similar lesson, could be taught by Rose if we were willing to listen. Rose’s comments a few days ago emphasized his desire to be fully healthy next year. Because of his recent history -- namely a 2011-12 season in which he constantly played through injury only to suffer the torn ACL in Game 1 of the playoffs -- it appears he feels a fresh start in 2013-14 is better than getting potentially chipped up in these playoffs and spending part of the offseason recovering. He fears falling back into the “dinged up” trap, perhaps as much as he fears another catastrophic injury.

On one hand, most people believe doctors. On the other, most people have not had to deal with the Bulls’ doctors.

Consider last season. As is often brought up, Rose played through a plethora of maladies. Every time, the team doctors cleared him to play. Every time, he got re-injured, or discomfort with one body part resulted in an injury to another body part. He was never comfortable in 2011-12, but he played, because the Bulls told him he could play. And on that fateful day in April 2012, he blew out his ACL. He faced up to a year of not being able to do that which he loves most: play basketball.

Rose has come under a lot of criticism for not returning, but he told reporters on Saturday morning that he is unaware of the backlash. He said he is simply trying to take care of his body, and he’s confident that he will come back better than ever whenever that return may be.

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It’s difficult to understand just how much Rose means to Chicago if you’re not from here. The story of Rose’s rise to stardom was almost too good to be true. He came from Englewood, the south-side Chicago neighborhood most notable for poverty and violence. He established himself as star in high school, leading Simeon to back-to-back state championships as a junior and senior. The Bulls got impossibly lucky to earn the rights to draft him, jumping from the No. 9 spot in the lottery all the way to the top pick. There was a 1.7 percent chance it could happen, but it immediately felt like destiny. That he did it all with seemingly unparallelled levels of quiet humility only made the story better.

And then he did it, leading the Bulls to a league-best 62 wins while averaging over 25 points per game. Maybe he got the vote because the story made everyone feel so warm and fuzzy, because this was the year the LeBron backlash was at its pinnacle, but it didn’t matter. Rose was the youngest MVP in league history. “Hometown kid makes good” is well-worn media narrative, but its hard to imagine anyone has pulled it off as flawlessly as Rose.

As he and the organization have for the past couple of months, Thibodeau left the door open slightly in case the Bulls go on an extended playoff run. But at this point, all signs point to Rose sitting out the entire season and returning for next season’s training camp.

The “will he or won’t he?” drama has consumed Chicago for months, with the Bulls’ and Rose’s refusal to come to a concrete decision causing a lot of frustration for fans and the media. It would seem sort of crazy to bring him back into a playoff atmosphere at this point after being cautious for so long, and Thibodeau finally appears to be acknowledging that.

The tension between the team and their MVP-caliber point guard exists because Rose has pushed off the last part of his rehab process: live-action NBA activity. Medical clearance from doctors for his surgically-repaired ACL means that the experts aren’t concerned about basketball activities creating any additional risk of re-injury. In essence, the early stages of competitive play should probably be considered part of the recovery process. He needs to recalibrate his notion of what a healthy knee will feel like, and that can only come when he tests his limits in real play.

Even so, Rose is taking things slowly and offering up vague statements about his return (via Sam Smith of Bulls.com):

Like the USA Today report from Feb. 13, Rose reiterated that he’s not returning until he’s feeling physically set.

Speaking with the media on Tuesday, the point guard also defended his brother, Reggie Rose, after he made pointed comments about how the organization was not doing what it takes to support Derrick from a roster perspective. Rose said that it was people “making stuff up” regarding any disagreements he had with the Bulls organization.

That means no restrictions either by minutes or otherwise.

Soreness is one thing that the Bulls want to resolve before throwing Rose into game action. The point guard’s well-known competitiveness and intensity are indeed what drives him, and even a seemingly minor issue of hamstring soreness, as recently reported by ESPN’s Doris Burke, could be enough for Chicago to remain patient. Sources told Kyler that the Bulls don’t want either the minutes restriction of a mental restriction limiting Rose from going at his usual full speed. In other words, they want Derrick Rose to “be Derrick.”

This revelation comes shortly after a report published by ESPN Chicago on Friday stated that Rose had been cleared by doctors, but was hesitant to return to the court because he’s still not comfortable dunking off his left foot. That came about a week after TNT’s David Aldridge reported that Rose was still feeling some discomfort in his knee when moving to his right.

It has been nearly 10 months since Rose went under the knife to repair his knee, and some are getting antsy about his return. The Bulls have long said that their superstar would return when he was ready, but there’s a belief that the news of Rose being medically cleared was leaked to ESPN Chicago on purpose in order to put pressure on Rose to return. And one could certainly view Rose’s comments to Burke as a direct response to that.

It has been nearly 10 months since Rose had surgery on his knee, but he still wants to feel confident enough to dunk while jumping off his left foot. His knee may never feel exactly the same, but he still hasn’t made enough progress to re-calibrate what a healthy knee should feel like post-surgery. At Blog-a-Bull, they note that Rose’s “110 percent” comments make sense now:

The Bulls are 34-27 and they hold the No. 6 seed in the Eastern Conference.

One of the five or six best players in the NBA is out indefinitely, we don’t know when he’ll be back or who exactly decides, the player’s brother is complaining publicly about the direction of the team and we have no idea what comes next. It feels like this should be a bigger deal.

It’s been two years since we’ve seen Derrick Rose at something like full strength, so it’s hard to remember exactly what we’ve lost this year. Maybe that’s part of it. Plus, we’re not doctors, and we know nothing about D-Rose’s knee. Guessing is pointless, and we’re all sort of in the dark.

Rose said he’s been participating in 3-on-3 drills and one-on-one games at practice, and the plan, according to general manager Gar Forman, is for him to start participating in 5-on-5 scrimmages after the All-Star break. He said he’s struggling to regain both physical and mental confidence, but also said “I’m feeling good.” From Friedell’s report:

Rose created a stir for giving his first public comments since the season began to USA Today’s Jeff Zillgitt, leading one local reporter to call him out for straying from his “Chicago guy” image. His Wednesday night press conference was likely to appease the Chicago media that’s been clamoring to speak for him for months.

However, in an interview with USA Today, Rose downplayed the prospects of an immediate return:

For more reaction on the interview from a Chicago perspective, check out Blog A Bull, SB Nation’s aptly titled Bulls blog.

This is the weekend that’s been circled by Rose’s handlers ever since Chicago’s franchise star underwent surgery to repair his torn ACL on May 12. Now, it’s just 15 days away. We’re getting closer to that moment foreshadowed by an adidas commercial, when Chicago’s pain subsides and the city stops in awe and appreciation for the return of its hometown hero.

Chicago is ready for this. You can see it in the way people gawk at Rose when he hoists jumpers at shootaround before games, over-analyzing his lift, his release point and the arc on his uncontested shots. He’s taking more contact at practice every week, and Noah can only smile when asked about his progress. D. Rose is coming back to save the Bulls, and the moment will be here before you know it.

Derrick Rose might be able to practice at full strength this week, although a return to play would take slightly longer for the 2011 MVP.

Chicago Bulls head coach Tom Thibodeau said Rose has been taking “controlled contact” in some situations in practice, and that Rose will likely return to full-speed practice this week. Thibodeau did not indicate when Rose would be able to play, just that it was further down the road.

Thibodeau did not give a time a timetable on Rose’s return. The Bulls have played well without Rose, leading the Central Division with a 14-10 record.

For more on the Bulls, visit Blog-A-Bull and SB Nation Chicago.