North: For Rose, it's all about the money
Derrick Rose has ongoing leg problems and has said from the beginning of the season that feeling well enough to play is a "process."
He recently reiterated that thought after missing his third straight game for the Chicago Bulls with tendinitis in his right hamstring.
It seems he might be nursing himself all the way to and through the playoffs. Rose won't play if he's sore and it won't matter to him if it's the final game in a series or not.
I guess he doesn't care if other players have been playing hurt, such as Pau Gasol with the flu or Taj Gibson with ankle problems.
As long as Rose is on the Bulls, they will continue to have injury concern with him every year. Coach Fred Hoiberg has the worst type of player you can have in the NBA - the kind you can't count on to play every day.
Professional athletes can be abrasive, competitive, difficult, moody, ornery, or any other adjective you can think of, but when your star player isn't an automatic on the game time roster, there are going to be problems.
I don't care if Rose plays on the Bulls or not, and some fans are just fed up. It's apparent he doesn't care as long as he gets paid. Rose wants another huge contract because the millions and millions of dollars he has already received haven't been enough.
It's the Bulls' call to make, and president Michael Reinsdorf, vice-president John Paxson and GM Gar Forman must sit down and decide if they can win with a part-time player. Compete? Yes. Win it all? No.
Just ask former Cubs manager Dusty Baker what it would have been like to count on Mark Prior and Kerry Wood every fourth day. I think history would have turned out differently. Injuries decimated the Cubs, and it has been the same for the Bulls.
Some injuries are understood like the ones Jimmy Butler (knee) and Joakim Noah (shoulder) currently have, but Rose sitting it out is different. He is unwilling to play with any soreness because he is waiting for another payday.
Huh? Does he even realize how that sounds? The Bulls would be insane to invest any more money in him, and so would another franchise because he is not a team player.
No, at the end of the season it's time to move on from the Rose era. I just can't see why any team would want to spend millions on an athlete who isn't ready to go every game, never knowing when the dreaded tendinitis might rear its ugly head.
I was watching 8-time NBA All-Star Vince Carter hit five threes the other night for the Memphis Grizzlies. You think it's likely he has tendinitis after eighteen years in the league? The dude loves what he does, while it seems like Rose likes what he collects!
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