Derrick Rose had a rough year and an even rougher post season as nightly speculation about whether or not Rose would return to the Bulls during the playoffs.
Rose has taken a ton of heat, and had pundits, media types, and his peers questioning his heart. Rose’s college coach is now coming to his defense, and he doesn’t question Rose or his heart.
John Calipari was on the Adam “the Bull” & Dustin Fox show on 92.3 The Fan in Cleveland, and was asked about Rose not playing during the playoffs.
“An NBA player’s body, if he does anything to hurt his own body he’s wrecking his own career. You let them listen to their bodies.
“The second thing is, I’ve talked to Chicago Bulls management, I know all those guys… and you know what? They’re fine. They didn’t want him to go back. As a matter of fact, they wanted to announce he wasn’t coming back, but Derrick didn’t want to do it because he thought if there is any chance for me to come back…
“But let me ask you this: At the end of the day after they got going, and they were going to play Miami in the second (round), what good would it have done other than he could have got hurt? Tell me what good it could have done?
“So all this stuff, is all fine, all I can tell you is he’s a great kid, the Bulls supported him. I support him because I’m not gonna (say), ‘Yea, head out there, why doesn’t he come back this is crazy the doctor cleared him, okay now he got hurt.’ How do you feel now?…
“Knowing him the way he is, knowing he is a great kid and somebody who probably in the worst way wanted to play, but just was so tentative he wasn’t right. He didn’t trust it yet and you gotta respect that.”
Rose not playing was fine, if he wasn’t ready, then he wasn’t ready. The Bulls made the mistake of trying to pressure Rose by leaking the fact that he was cleared sometime after the All Star break.
Derrick Rose has plenty of great seasons left, and that’s all that should be important.