I appreciate his honesty, no need to lie about it. He wasn’t ready to play, so he wasn’t going to play. He still doesn’t seem 100% sure he is ready to go, so we will just have to see what happens next year.
One thing is clear from these comments, he isn’t going to be forced by anyone to step on the court.
“It was hard. One of the hardest things I’ve had to go through in my life,” Rose said of missing the season. “After surgery, when you start running … when you have an injury like this, there is stages you have to go through, I’m still going through my stages. I’m not done yet, but this is the most I’ve ever worked on my craft and the most focused I’ve ever been in my NBA career.
“I’m not a selfish guy at all, but having this injury and going through what I had to go through and being smart, it’s something that I had to be selfish with. I couldn’t worry about anyone else but myself and my health.”
And there you have it.
He should have said that right at the beginning and I believe fans and media would have cut him some slack. A lot of the comments by the Bulls and Rose led people to believe he was ready to go and when it didn’t happen, people rightfully wondered why.
We can only hope that Derrick Rose comes back better and stronger, but at this point no one knows if that will happen.