DRose suffered a torn meniscus in his knee and is expected to miss the entire season.
Chicago Bulls point guard Derrick Rose insists that he isn’t even thinking about his return to action yet as he is fully focused on the rehabilitation process.
The 25-year-old sustained a torn medial meniscus in his right knee on November 22, and spoke to reporters for the first time in around two months at a Bulls charity event on Wednesday night.
Having initially not given up hope of featuring for the team again this season, Rose has insisted that he is concentrating on his recovery and hasn’t even started running yet.
“I haven’t even had a chance to think about it to tell you the truth,” Rose said of a possible return this season, as reported by ESPN.
“I’m just worrying about my next stage in this process and that’s running right now. I’m on the Alter-G right now running on that and hopefully be running without it pretty soon.”
“I’m not keeping it open,” he added. “I just said that right now I haven’t thought about it. I can’t think about it right now when I’m not running yet. When I get off the Alter-G that’s when I can say if I’m coming back or not (this year).”
After undergoing surgery in late November, Rose left open the possibility of playing again this season in his first press conference after suffering the injury. However, the franchise has been keen to avoid the controversy of last season and have implied that he is not expected to play any part this year.
Bulls GM Gar Forman reiterated that point and insisted that the team is moving forward this campaign under the premise that they will have to be successful without their star point guard.
“We’re still working on the premise that he’s out for the year,” Forman said. “And everything with his rehab is on schedule and he’s doing well but that’s the premise that we’re working under.”
Rose dismissed the notion that he was feeling down after suffering a second serious injury knee in the last three years which has severely limited his time on the court.
“Who said I was down?” he said. “I said it was going to be hard but I was never down. I just look at it as a better way to better myself as an athlete. Build every part of my body all over again and come back better.”
The Chicago native addressed various topics as he spoke to reporters for around three minutes, discussing his friendship with Luol Deng and how they had spoken after he was traded to the Cleveland Cavaliers last month.
Rose went on to reveal that he would love to take part in Team USA’s training camp this summer ahead of the Basketball World Cup in Spain, suggesting that he thinks it would help his game considering he went through the same camp prior to his MVP season.
However, when asked about how he felt the team would be put together in the future, with speculation continuing to link Carmelo Anthony with a switch in free agency this summer, Rose was less responsive.
“Basketball, that’s the last thing (on my mind).I work out six days a week so I don’t got time to think about basketball like that.”
Naturally, perhaps the biggest worry for Rose and Bulls fans at this stage, is his ability to return from this injury and to remain healthy for a prolonged period of time.
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