Rose's Hesitation Frustrating, Justified

Rose’s Hesitation Frustrating; Justified

BY PAUL STEENO

            On March 19th, 2013 Derrick Rose was cleared to once again play basketball by doctors after sustaining a serious ACL injury in mid-April 2012. Many frustrating weeks have passed since this news and Derrick Rose still hasn’t made his much anticipated return. His hesitation to start playing has led to a flurry of criticism.

            Derrick Rose’s reluctance to return to action has occurred for several primary reasons. Obviously, Derrick Rose was one of the best players in the NBA prior to his injury last May. He has seen NBA players struggle due to premature returns from serious ACl injuries. Derrick Rose holds extremely high expectations for himself and will not settle for mediocrity. Hence the reason why he is taking a seemingly unreasonable amount of time to make his comeback. He won’t return until he is supremely confident that he can go out there and dominate like he did before the ACL injury. Also, most fans underestimate the enormity of the mental aspect of the game. It can be reasonably inferred that Derrick Rose’s biggest fear is re-injuring himself. Fear equates to a lack of aggressiveness on the court and thus to lackluster performances that could prove detrimental to the team performance as a whole especially come playoff time. Finally, the fate of the entire Chicago Bulls organization for the next ten years lies on the shoulders of Derrick Rose. He obviously feels this tremendous pressure and realizes that he must make the decision that will be most beneficial long term, even if it means sitting out the rest of this season. If Derrick Rose were to sustain another serious injury, this could jeopardize the success of the entire organization far into the future. All three of these reasons provide complete justification for Rose’s hesitation in returning.

            It is completely unfair for fans to pass judgment regarding Rose’s hesitation to return. Rose is the only person that truly knows how his body feels. The Bulls organization has acknowledged this fact by proclaiming that they are 100% behind any decision Derrick Rose makes regarding his return.

With all this being said, Rose hasn’t handled this entire situation perfectly either. He has been extremely vague about a potential date of return prompting much of the criticism. It is only fair to his fans, coaches, and especially his teammates for him to come out and specify a return date.

With the arrival of the NBA playoffs, the Chicago Bulls need to stay focused on the ultimate goal of a championship and not dwell on the question of Rose’s return. The Bulls need to use the fact that most “experts” are disregarding them as championship contenders as motivation to play as hard as they can in the playoffs.