During the Chicago Bulls run in this year’s playoffs star point guard Derrick Rose took a bit of a verbal beating from fans and basketball analysts. Many wondered why Rose, who had been physically cleared to play after suffering a torn ACL last season, didn’t step onto the court—especially when his teammate center Joakim Noah was limping all over the court with a foot injury during the start of the first round series against the Brooklyn Nets.
However, Bulls great Scottie Pippen said over the weekend, Rose did not deserve the criticism he took from fans, according to ESPNChicago.com.
"I was kind of surprised people turned on him knowing the difficulty of Derrick's injury," said Pippen at a Nike event on Saturday. "No one can justify what he's going through. No one can make his decision as to when to get back on the basketball court. I thought he took a little bit of a hit for it.”
"As a player that has played this game, I know at the end of the day I've had numerous amount of surgeries, and the doctors released me at numerous amount of times to go and play,” Pippen added. “But a lot of those times didn't mean go and play against the best in the world right now, but to get yourself ready to compete again. Sometimes as a player, you're not there yet. The doctor can tell you the headache is gone, but he don't totally know that it is gone unless he can get in your head."
Rose suffered the injury in the first game of the 2012 playoffs against the Philadelphia 76ers. He went up to do a floater and his knee gave out. After much months of recovery, he was given the OK by doctors in February and even participated in 5-on-5 drills. However, he said he wouldn’t return to the court until he could dunk off his left leg with confidence and until he got his muscle memory back.
The Bulls never actually declared Rose out for the playoffs, although the possibility he would play grew more and more unlikely.
Pippen said he knows why fans wanted to the 2011 MVP to return so badly, but he believes Rose and the organization did what was in everyone’s best interest.
"Fans are demanding. They want to win. They want it now. If you have an injury, they want you back the next day. It was a process. We were all hoping that things would have worked out, but it didn't work out that way,” Pippen explained. “But there's no reason to start to doubt or have any negative activity about Derrick because he was not able to come back this season. I think you just have to look ahead and believe that it was the right decision as a whole, for him, for the organization, and we have to move on."
"I don't have any doubt," Pippen said on Rose getting back to his old self. "Derrick is a very determined, hardworking player, so I don't have any doubt he will be back bigger and better as ever."
According to Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau, Rose seems to be returning to form.
"Watching the way he's moving now, there's a confidence," said Thibodeau. "[Reporters] may not have been able to see the total work he was putting in. But he was putting in an enormous amount of work each and every day. He just never got to the explosiveness he was comfortable with. I think he's there now. He feels great, and that's the most important thing."
