Chicago Bulls point guard Derrick Rose returned to the floor in Monday night's 97-95 win over the Utah Jazz after missing the previous four games because of a strained left hamstring. Rose went 5-for-10 from the field with 18 points, five assists and three rebounds in 25 minutes, but it was Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau's comments that might draw more attention than Rose's play. Asked whether Rose looked fatigued in the second half of Monday's game, something the 26-year-old discussed before Monday's shootaround in regard to his muscle recovery after missing more than a week, Thibodeau chafed. Rose has tried to be cautious about his future and has missed eight games overall after missing four earlier in the season because of sprained ankles. But the former All-Star seems to understand that Thibodeau is frustrated by his on-again, off-again health status. Monday marked just the third time this season the Bulls' starting five of Rose, Joakim Noah, Mike Dunleavy, Pau Gasol and Jimmy Butler played together. "It's been time," Rose said. "To me, it's been time. Every injury is a setback a little bit, but as far as emotions and everything, how hard I worked, it's been consistent with how I'm feeling, being positive. And it's been a minute since I've played. This is the first one and now it's behind me and now we're on to Denver." Read more http://espn.go.com/chicago/nba/stor...rose-pau-gasol-chicago-bulls-lineup-utah-jazz
I don't know about anyone else, but I refuse to be roped in to the tempest that is Rose and his availability to come to work. He's "day-to-day" until he's played a dozen or so consecutive games. When I turn on the TV to watch the games, I'll just let it be a surprise.
The Utah announcers last night said that the Bulls starting lineup situation was one of the strangest thing they had ever seen. It was an "*" supposedly, and Rose decides after final warm up if he's ready to go or not. Supposedly this isn't how its done in the NBA, according to the Utah guys.
Maybe it's not how things are usually done . . . I can't think of any reason why its how things shouldn't be done. Rose is coming off of two season ending injuries that were both associated with compensating for other problems. And Rose has already had a similar compensation injury this preseason. I'm more than willing to be patient while Rose works himself back into shape over the season, so as not to risk additional injuries.
I think the difference is in this case its totally up to Rose on a game by game basis. If Rose isn't feeling "right" he can just say I'm out this game. And he'll make that call right before tip off. I imagine organizations are used to being a bit more in control of such things.