It turns out that the Derrick Rose injury scare was just that: a scare. Rose fractured the left orbital bone after taking an elbow to the face on the first day of training camp, and there were worries that he’d once again miss significant time. But as Nick Friedell of ESPN reports, the timeline for Rose’s return hasn’t changed, and he’s expected to return to the team very soon.
“Follow-up [exam] went very well,” Hoiberg said after Saturday’s practice. “They’ve advised him to continue to let that sight heal, and they think the best way to do that is for him to stay at home at this time. We plan on him being back Wednesday morning.”
Hoiberg still isn’t sure exactly when Rose will be able to return to game action, but he’s hopeful that his point guard will be ready for the regular-season opener on Oct. 27 against LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Orbital fractures are tricky in terms of recovery time. Mike Conley came back fairly quickly, while Victor Oladipo missed almost six weeks with his injury. While no injury is ever a good injury, the silver lining here is that Rose suffered this fracture before the season began. True, he’ll have to play catch up when it comes to learning Fred Hoiberg’s new system, but the Bulls won’t suffer greatly through a prolonged absence, even if he has to miss a few regular season games. Hopefully this is the only injury Rose suffers this year so that we don’t have to deal with any more nauseating speculation as to Rose’s “grit”, “toughness” or other fake macho trash.
(ESPN)
