Derrick Rose was cleared medically to play on February 18th, it is April 12th, so doing the math, the conclusion was obvious, Derrick Rose didn’t want to play this season.
So, all the reports about The Return were just filler, because mentally, he just wasn’t ready to come back. The Bulls have finally come to that conclusion, but still left the door a bit open. Here is what they had to say, courtesy of Pro Basketball Talk.
Now that Rose sitting out all season is all but a certainty, the Bulls and Rose have drawn some criticism. Asked in light of that whether the Bulls should have just declared Rose out for the season last fall, coach Tom Thibodeau shrugged.
“They were just being forthright,” Thibodeau said of management and team physician Brian Cole. “That’s what everyone thought. We didn’t know, and we still don’t know. We were just being honest.”
He isn’t coming back and that is the prudent thing to do. Doesn’t matter if Rose, is physically 100%, until his head is in the right place, he would only be hurting, not helping the team.
The Bulls can only pray, that it isn’t a mental block that stays with him forever.