When hearing that Derrick Rose torn
his medial meniscus, the first name that came to mind was Grant Hill. I know
you’re probably thinking that’s the worst comparison possible, but despite
battling injury Hill went on to play nearly two decades, if you know anything
about the NBA not everyone gets to have a long lasting career.
Hill, who was a seven-time all-star
was to be believed by many to be better than Michael Jordan, was the number one
overall selection in 1994, as Rose was in the 2008. Hill went on to have five
surgeries on his ankle, Rose is already on his second just recently injuring
his “healthy” knee. During Hill’s first two years he led the NBA in all-star
votes, beating out Jordan and Shaquille O’Neal, even being named the co-NBA
Rookie of the Year. Rose also was named NBA Rookie of the Year, he even went on
to become the NBA’s youngest MVP recipient at the age of 22. Both Hill and Rose
were young stars in the league until the injury bug bit them. Hill went on to
have a solid NBA career of 19 seasons, becoming one of 17 to score over 17,000
points, 6,000 rebounds, and 4,000 assists. Rose’ career is still ongoing, but
it will be interesting to see how the rest of his career pans out.
The knee is no longer a concern
Rose has already undergone surgery and is set to return to action at the start
of 2014-2015 NBA season.
But where is Rose mentally? That’s the million dollar question.
Basing my opinion off of how long
it took Rose to return to the court tells me he is not in a good state of mind
after sitting out the entire 2012-2013 season after being cleared to play. I’m
not the one to rush a player back to the court after suffering a serious
injury, but after witnessing Rose participate in shoot around it was clear that
he was not confident in his surgically repaired knee. It was evident that he
could still explode off of the dribble and bounce, but yet he still wasn't
ready to return to action .Then after a full year, he returns to action and
still looks good despite the rust of not playing, then down he goes 11 games
into the season he goes down again.
Rose has shown that his injury is
clearly more mental than physical.
If Rose is not 100 percent
confident that he can return and play without doubting his knees, then that
2011 NBA Most Valuable Player that led the Bulls to the Eastern Conference
Finals is long gone.
People are already questioning Rose’s
mental toughness after Skip Bayless took to
ESPN’s First Take to say he returned to running distance within two to three
weeks after having a successful surgery repairing his torn meniscus.
Why should Rose miss the rest of
the season? It’s simple he shouldn't.
Rose will have to show he’s
mentally tough, after rehabbing for a year, then having to rehab again is tough
to do. If you've ever suffered a major injury, you know just how tough the
rehab process can be on your mental stability.
When the rehab regimen picks up
intensity, how will Rose respond?
It is possible that Rose can come
back and play at a high level.
To make a football reference, take
Adrian Peterson for example, after tearing his ACL Peterson came back stronger
than ever nearly breaking the NFL rushing record. There is a down side to Peterson's success, now
athletes across professional sports who suffers a major knee injury will be
held to that same standard, that’s not a performance level that’s easy to meet.
It will be interesting to see how
Rose returns. He can enter come back better than ever as Peterson, and continue
to ascend to new heights, or he can just be another NBA player who had a
serviceable career.
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