If Rose is out for an extended period of time, Bulls are in trouble
Comments (...)Potentially devastating news concerning the Bulls became public on Sunday ... and the news had nothing to do with their nationally-televised 95-91 loss at Boston.
It involved the superstar who sat out his second straight game, Derrick Rose. Everyone expected Rose to play against the Celtics because they're the Celtics, not a team the Bulls could beat in their sleep like the Bobcats two nights prior. When word that Rose wouldn't play got around Sunday, we knew the situation wasn't good.
When Rose talked to the media that day, those suspicions were confirmed. This is something more than Rose being a bit banged up and sitting out to be cautious.
"It's been hurting the whole trip," Rose said, according to the Chicago Tribune. "I just played through it. It tended to get worse after every game. I was really worried about it. But I'm trying to stay positive. I don't know what the diagnosis is. I just know my back is not right."
Rose was scheduled to see a specialist Monday, and the odds are good that the Bulls won't rush him back for Tuesday's game against the Kings no matter what is revealed. In itself, him missing what would be his third straight game and his eighth total this season would be trivial. The Bulls are an Eastern Conference-best 23-7 even without him. Of their seven games remaining this month, four are against Sacramento, New Jersey, Milwaukee and New Orleans; Rose or no Rose, the Bulls will be heavy favorites in those games.
What is frightening for the Bulls is the possibility that the back issue could linger into March ... and April ... and beyond. The Bulls could conceivably survive much of the regular season — even the rest of it — without Rose and be fine. In a playoff series against Miami, Indiana, Philadelphia, Boston, Atlanta or New York (if Linsanity continues), if Rose is still injured or playing himself back into form, they're in big trouble.
We don't know when Rose will return, but until he does, his last action was the 22:22 he played in a 90-67 blowout of the hapless Hornets on Feb. 8. I could be his last action for a long while. Heck, it's possible that was Rose's last action for the rest of the season. In other words, coach Tom Thibodeau may have irreparably harmed a season with championship aspirations to play Rose in a February game against New Orleans.
Most of what Thibodeau has done for the Bulls has been nothing short of genius. He inherited a borderline playoff team from Vinny Del Negro and turned it into one of the best teams in the NBA. Much of the reason for the Bulls' evolution is due to the individual progression of Rose, true, but the Bulls proved Sunday that they can play with the big boys, on the road, even without Rose. I mean, they almost won at Boston with C.J. Watson as their primary offensive option in crunch time. That's impressive, even if it's also a scathing indictment of their ability to generate offense from anyone but their point guard.
But I, like many Bulls fans, was horrified when Thibodeau insisted on playing Rose even when his toe was clearly bothering him weeks ago. He was playing with fire then, and while he certainly couldn't have seen a major back injury coming when he allowed Rose to suit up against the Hornets, the risk is always there — especially when the player in question is already hurt.
Hopefully Thibodeau will get a mulligan in the form of a able-to-return-in-a-couple-weeks Rose. If Thibodeau does, I hope he chooses to be more careful with Rose during the rest of this crazy 66-game season. If not, Thibodeau's own reckless use of Rose may help dismantle the contending team he helped build.
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