Explosive point guard speaks openly about his injuries…
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Chicago Bulls point guard Derrick Rose has revealed that he is thinking beyond just this year when managing his injuries this season.
After playing in just 10 games in the previous two seasons due to serious knee injuries, Rose sat out four of five games last week due to sprained ankles.
However, he made his return in the win over the Detroit Pistons earlier this week, and while he looked in good shape, he has spoken candidly about his thought process when recovering from any injury that he suffers through basketball.
“I’m good, man,” Rose said. “I felt like I’ve been managing myself pretty good. I know a lot of people get mad when they see me sit out or whatever, but I think a lot of people don’t understand that … when I sit out it’s not because of this year.
“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. [I’m] just learning and being smart.”
Rose went on to add that he was happy he sat out a few extra days in order to get close enough to returning at 100 percent before putting up 24 points and seven assists in 32 minutes against the Pistons.
However, the explosive point guard insists that he still hasn’t reached his optimum level of both fitness and form, but he is aware that both will only likely come with further playing time and getting accustomed to playing NBA basketball regularly each week.
“I think I’m close,” he said. “It’s just getting game-time reps. Everything you see that I’m doing now — adding the midrange, adding the floater — I’m missing them right now, but at least I’m getting up [those] shots.
“I know I’m going to have games where offensively I’m going to be great, but like [Monday] night at the end, missing them shots, and then still have the chance to really make a big change in the game when [coach Tom Thibodeau] gave me the opportunity to go isolation at the end. So things like that [I’m] just getting used to, but I just need the game experience.”
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