Rose's Toughness Called Into Question

Derrick Rose is an individual that receives a lot of recognition on this blog as well as from the worldwide media. He is perhaps under one of the bigger spotlights in all of sports due to his continued recovery from two major knee surgeries. Fans questioned his toughness multiple times after he chose to sit out the entire season two years ago, and now here we sit, twelve games into the season, and Derrick Rose has missed seven of those games.

Rose has missed 7 of 12 games this season

There are multiple reasons for Rose's absence, the latest being a minor hamstring injury he suffered late in the Bulls' win over Toronto last week. While also receiving treatment for two sprained ankles, it's safe to say Rose has been battered and bruised in the first month of the season. Clearly he's not 100 percent and he's got his injuries that he's dealing with, but the worst part about all of this is that it seems the injuries are becoming a bigger deal than they should be. Derrick Rose needs to get back on the floor.


Obviously, there are two sides of the spectrum here. There are those Chicago fans that believe Rose should take his time and wait till he's fully recovered, and there are those that believe it's time to take the toughness up a few levels and play as soon as possible. While it's not exactly hard to realize the Bulls' organization is being cautious because they're paying Rose nearly 19 million dollars this year, it's also hard to accept the fact that they're comfortable paying him that much to sit in a suit and tie for more than half the games played thus far. Clearly if a player is injured then he should sit, regardless of who it is. Yet Derrick Rose is waiting till he's back to 100% with each setback he experiences. That's where the problem lies.

This is the NBA. You'd be hard pressed to find any player that plays a meaningful amount of minutes that's at 100 percent each night. This is the best basketball league in the world, you're going to have bumps, bruises, tweaks, etc. It's to be expected. This is the issue with Derrick Rose's absence. He has chosen to sit for three straight games now after he himself described the injury as minor. Is it so bad that he couldn't have given twenty minutes against Sacramento last night? There was no MRI needed, this is not a muscle tear, it's a minor injury that's causing Rose's mental, as well as physical, toughness to be questioned. And rightfully so.

Rose's health has never been the same since his first major injury

This is Chicago. This is where sports icons like Michael Jordan, Walter Payton, and Carlton Fisk have played and have emulated Chicago toughness to a tee. You battle through injuries, and you do what it takes to win. If that means giving what you can give despite a little discomfort then so be it. How can Rose sit in the same locker room with guys like Joakim Noah who played the entire playoff stretch two years ago with plantar fasciitis, an injury that ultimately ended the career of Yao Ming? How can Rose be okay with missing numerous games when Jimmy Butler has played through a sprained thumb and is now battling a shoulder injury night in and night out while still managing to play like the front runner for this year's Most Improved award? I understand that Noah and Butler haven't dealt with two major knee surgeries in back-to-back seasons, but if you want to win a championship, if you want to be great, if you want to back up the talk of bringing Chicago its seventh title then you have to play through a little pain. That's what the great players do.

Derrick Rose doesn't care what I, or anyone else, thinks about this situation and I respect him for that. I'm not jealous of him for having to go through all this speculation and doubt on a daily basis, but at the same time he has now brought this on himself. Hamstring, knee, and calf injuries are a part of coming back from the surgeries he has undergone, so why is this as big of a deal as he is making it? He's 26, obviously he doesn't want to jeopardize his career, and in no way am I saying Rose should be playing every single game, but there comes a time when toughness has to take over. I don't question Rose's dedication at all; he's done everything right in recovering from his surgeries. However, I am at the point where I question his toughness.

The Bulls have built a championship-caliber team around Rose. The organization underwent quite the makeover when they traded one of the best players to ever put on a Bulls uniform in Luol Deng and now they've added Pau Gasol along with picking up two rookies with a lot of potential in Doug McDermott and Nikola Mirotic. This is the Bulls year to win. They're a good team without Derrick Rose, but with him they're great. He is the face of this organization and they will go as far as he will take them. I understand the tweaks and soreness and I understand the fear of another major major injury, but it's time for Derrick Rose to toughen up.