You cannot push all the way back from knee surgery without having pain. Does not happen. It’s not even supposed to happen.
Derrick Rose has sat out the last couple days of Team USA practice and will not start the exhibition game Wednesday night at Madison Square Garden against the Dominican Republic in what USA Basketball had called a precautionary move.
But ESPNChicago.com’s Nick Friedell (among others) heard Rose does have some knee pain, something passed along by Marc Stein of ESPN.A source familiar with Rose’s condition told ESPNChicago.com’s Nick Friedell that Rose has been bothered by knee soreness since his return to the floor Saturday night in an exhibition victory over Brazil in Chicago and requested the extra time to recover. But Team USA officials, to this point, have downplayed concerns about Rose’s status.
The fact that Rose missed a second consecutive workout is bound to worry some Bulls fans back in Chicago, given the star guard’s knee problems over the past two seasons, but Team USA coach Mike Krzyzewski actually revealed in a radio interview Monday with ESPN’s “Mike and Mike” that he was planning to hold Rose out of practice for the first two days of the week.
This takes us back to the first sentence of this post: You cannot push all the way back from knee surgery without having pain.
Rose has to push through this now rather than in the marathon grind of the regular season. Team USA is a great setting for him to push his body because there isn’t going to be a huge load on him in terms of minutes or carrying a scoring burden (and he’s looked fantastic on the court, a bit rusty but a lot like his vintage self). Team USA team is stacked at the guard spot, Rose just has to be Rose when he is on the court.
I get why Bulls fans may be skeptical of Rose. There are some just ripping him, those people are fools. But a little concern about the knees is legit.
Look at it this way: He sat out two summer practices and will not start a meaningless summer exhibition. And you’re going to get worked up over that?
It’s far, far too early for any of that.
