Derrick Rose’s injury situation is no fun. Not for Rose, not for Bulls fans, not for general NBA fans and certainly not for a league office that wants its best players healthy. The combination of an ACL tear that cost Rose a full season and a torn meniscus that ended last year prematurely has Rose on high alert whenever he feels any sort of pain, which is why he’s shuffled in and out of Chicago’s lineup since hurting his ankle in the second game of the season.
Derrick Rose doesn’t need to explain why he sits out
The Bulls’ point guard suggested he’s prioritizing his long-term health, even after his basketball career ends. He’s right, but saying so only stokes the flames of his stupidest critics.
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Rose doesn’t need to defend his actions. It’s his body and only he knows how it actually feels. Yet because of the elongated period of his first extended absence and lingering frustration from a city that invested so much in him, he often feels like he must. And thus, you get poorly-timed answers like these, via ESPN’s Nick Friedell.
Rose: "I know a lot of people get mad when they see me sit out or whatever, but I think a lot of people don't understand that ..."
— Nick Friedell (@NickFriedell) November 11, 2014 Rose: "When I sit out it's not because of this year. I'm thinking about long term. I'm thinking about after I'm done with basketball."
— Nick Friedell (@NickFriedell) November 11, 2014 Rose: "Having graduations to go to, having meetings to go to, I don't want to be in my meetings all sore."
— Nick Friedell (@NickFriedell) November 11, 2014 Rose: "Or be at my son's graduation all sore just because of something I did in the past. (I'm) just learning and being smart."
— Nick Friedell (@NickFriedell) November 11, 2014 Everything Rose says is correct. He’s a human being with a life after basketball and it’s understandable that he doesn’t want that life to be full of pain just to rush back from serious injuries. It’s also consistent with his measured approach to his recovery since his second surgery. Rose is older and wiser now, a father that realizes there’s more to his life than an early-season game against the Timberwolves.
But that’s not how his many fans will read those comments. To them, it sounds like Rose is saying basketball isn’t important to him. To them, it sounds like the entity they supposedly live and die with is less important to one of its members than themselves.
That’s unfair to Rose, who must actually live through the pain his fans hear about. But it’s the can of worms that opens because of comments like these.
Rose doesn’t need to defend his actions like this. All that does is legitimize the angry mob.
★★★
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