I was surprised to read that the level-headed, fair-minded Steve Kerr was kind of calling out Derrick Rose to step up and play if he's merely hesitating due to lack of confidence: http://espn.go.com/chicago/nba/stor...held-back-lack-muscle-memory-according-report [rquoter] "I think Derrick owes it to his teammates at this stage," Kerr said Monday on "The Carmen & Jurko Show" on ESPN 1000. "And again, I've been Derrick's biggest supporter on this. I've been saying all along, up until [Saturday], I've been saying, 'He should not play if he's not comfortable.' "But if this is just about not being fully confident, you've got to go out there. If this is about, 'Hey, it doesn't feel right and I'm worried I can hurt it,' then no way should he play. But if this is just about, 'You know, gosh, I'm just not quite confident yet,' I would appeal to him and say, 'Can you give us 20 minutes?' And if you're Derrick, you've been watching Noah and Hinrich play on one leg this whole series, at what point do you start to feel sort of self-conscious and guilty about what's unfolding?"[/rquoter] I usually like to give players the benefit of the doubt in these situations. If he really feels like he's still a bit gimpy and he's genuinely concerned about re-aggravating the injury, then like Kerr I understand him sitting out. But it does rub me the wrong way when a team is battling with desperation to eek out wins, some guys are puking on the sidelines and others are playing with tremendous pain, and Rose elects to sit out all these games in the playoffs because he fears lack of "muscle memory" and isn't confident he can be as explosive as before. His coaches and teammates are supporting him, which I think is tremendous on their part. As a fan, I wish he'd step up as the leader of the team and help them out. Probably too late now.
Derrick is interested in more than 1 series, Steve Kerr is an idiot. Derrick's doing it the right way and I support that. When your career hangs in the balance, that is more important than this series, and frankly this playoffs.
Derrick Rose is my 2nd favorite player in the NBA. I'm very disappointed he hasn't returned because it would have helped the Bulls, (I believe) would have aided in his recovery and ensured he's 100% from the very beginning of next season. But I just don't know enough about the situation to blame him or not. We know it isn't a matter of money because he signed a max contract with the Bulls and already has the $250 million Adidas deal. In his mind, Rose might believe he came back too early last year and that's why he ended up blowing out his knee in the first place. I never thought he would play this season. But when he was medically cleared, started practicing with the team and they started showing videos of his pre-game shooting and running, my hopes were raised. Now it's ended up being a huge letdown. Like a tease. Steve Kerr might be showing here he still has a (residual) emotional investment in the Bulls. At this point, I just hope he returns next season better than ever and has a long, injury-free career from then on.
I don't see how any of this makes Kerr an idiot. He clearly stated that if there's a chance of re-injury (ie, your career hangs in the balance), he shouldn't play. He just said that if it's a matter of confidence and just not feeling like he can be as good as he wants to be, he should suck it up and play at less than 100%. I don't see anything wrong with that. On a slightly unrelated note, I enjoyed this quote from Robinson: "There was a couple times I had to throw up during the game," Robinson said. "But I didn't know if they were going to call a foul on me if I threw up on Deron Williams and played through it. But I don't know; we got to check the rulebook on that one."
At this point, I don't think it even really helps the team much. It's not like he could go out there and play a lot of minutes. He's been out for a whole year now, you can't just come in and play in the NBA, especially a game 7. If they win, that's another story, but for just one game, I think he would probably hurt the team more than help. Chemistry, fatigue, and if he isn't confident in himself to do things on the court -- I'm not really sure how that would help their team.
you guys are as soft and beta as rose is if hes healthy he should be playing its not the teams fault hes mentally weak
For a team that's potentially missing 2 starters with more than are ill or hobbled, and has no ability to generate offense, having a guy who you can give the ball to and say "go do something" is a huge plus. If nothing else, he comes off the bench and maybe gives them a different look if/when things aren't going well. He may not be helpful at all - but having him as an option is certainly better than not having him as an option.
His brother (or cousin) suggested earlier in the season that Rose was not anxious to return because he was unhappy with how the management didn't add any better players to the team. Do you think there's any truth to that? I seriously hope not.
Here's what I'm saying though, this is game 7. And yes they have injuries, but playing him right now would be more of a negative than a positive at this point regardless of it's an option or not based on all the info being reported. He's not in game shape, he doesn't have any chemistry, so I don't really get how it would be a plus. They were able to battle with the Nets in game 6 without those guys and still have a chance to win, mainly because they're able to play defense. To just stick him in there for 10 minutes isn't going to help them win this game, it may even end up hurting them for the reasons I mentioned. At this point, in game 7, it's not the best idea to just put him in there considering there's a good chance he wont help the team much when this same team was almost able to win game 6 with the same bodies. The one positive I can see though is boosting the morale of the team and getting some adrenaline flowing for his teammates.
I'm not sure Kerr even remotely implied that players are pieces of meat. The comments in this thread are jerking way too hard. What Kerr said isn't completely unreasonable.
If I were Rose I'd probably sit right now as well. His goal and the goal of the Bulls team is not to just to win 1 playoff series, they have their eyes set on something much higher. A rusty Rose might be able to get them out of the 1st round, but that's it. So might as well just sit, rest and make sure he'll be 100% ready next season.
Then Noah should also be sitting, if he had that mindset. Why torture himself when his team won't be able to get beyond the 2nd round?
I'm with Kerr. When the thing was he wanted to sit because he was afraid he'd be reinjured I got that. Of course it's not worth it under those circumstances. But now it seems like the issue is only that he's afraid he won't be as good as he wants to be. That's a lame reason to sit out.
yeah except that open heart surgery has less to do with playing basketball than the knees you cut, drive and run on. As soon as your scars have healed, you're pretty much good to go. It's the same reason why DJ Hayden was able to get back to football, a contact sport, months after having heart surgery.
Everyone here in chicago is thinking hes not playing because the owner is picking up the insurance on Rose...if thats the reason its not rose's fault
Last game, the Bulls had no bench. Deng's already been ruled out again; if Hinrich is, they'll be in the same position. They basically played 6 guys and a few were in foul trouble the whole game, affecting their defensive abilities. If Rose can play 10 minutes and just be a functional body that the Nets have to guard, that spells other players and lets them be fresh for more of the game. Even if he's just a jump shooting guard, if he makes a few shots, the Nets have to respect him, and regardless, he's better than whatever bench scrubs the Bulls could otherwise run out there. The Bulls held tough - at home - but still lost. They got blown out in Game 5 at Brooklyn. Anything to change the dynamic of their team is worth a shot if he can play without risking injury. If nothing else, you try it, and if he's useless out there, you bench him, and you lose. But it's better than losing without ever having tried.
