Chicago Bulls guard Derrick Rose missed the 2013 playoffs when a doctor told him he didn’t need to and has skipped eight games this young season. His frequent absences have clearly frustrated his coach.
“Oh I don’t know, Jesus,” Tom Thibodeau responded to a reporter’s question about Rose’s fatigue in Monday night’s game. “He’s got to get out there and play. I thought he did a lot of good things. You could see he’s not real comfortable with the ball yet, but that will come. When Derrick strings some games together, he’s going to take off. He’s got to go. That’s the bottom line. He’s got to go.”
Rose, returning to the hardwood after a hamstring injury sidelined him, competed in just 49 games the last three seasons. Put another way, for every game he played, he missed four.
Despite the long layoffs, the 2011 NBA MVP recently confessed to wanting more time away from the court. “I think a lot of people don’t understand that when I sit out it’s not because of this year,” he explained. “I’m thinking about long-term. I’m thinking about after I’m done with basketball, having graduations to go to, having meetings to go to. I don’t want to be in my meetings all sore or be at my son’s graduation all sore just because of something I did in the past. Just learning and being smart.”
Rose scored 18 points in 25 minutes of play Monday night against the Utah Jazz. The Bulls claimed the hard-fought road win 97-95.
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