Chicago Bulls guard Derrick Rose suffered an orbital fracture after being elbowed in the face during practice Tuesday and will require surgery. A timetable for his recovery and return is expected after surgery is complete on Wednesday.
Rose averaged 17.7 points and 4.9 assists last season but missed 31 games in part due to another knee procedure midseason. On Monday, he talked extensively about his upcoming free agency in 2017. Oftentimes, return dates for these injuries are within the range of six weeks and require the player to wear a mask until the injury fully heals.
Rajon Rondo suffered such an injury last February and returned before the end of the season. The injury is costly to the Bulls not only from a talent standpoint but in hopes of getting continuity under Fred Hoiberg's new system. We'll keep you updated on Rose's condition and prognosis.
Here are five things to know about Rose's injury and outlook:
1. The injury's not as bad as it sounds from a basketball standpoint. Breaking your face is obviously never good and incredibly painful. But typically, provided surgery goes well, players return from this type of injury in 4-6 weeks while wearing a mask.
This obviously can be impacted by the severity of the injury, how surgery goes, complications from recovery, and other factors, but Rose shouldn't be out so long as to dig the Bulls into a significant hole from the get-go.
2. That said, it's not good for the team. Under a new offense with Fred Hoiberg, there needs to be time to develop continuity and understanding of how to run the system. Rose being out complicates that because the other point guards don't have his skill.
Kirk Hinrich will likely take over as the starting point guard, which is sure to make most Bulls fans groan. Hinrich can operate as a game manager, but his jumper has been off for a decade, and in the bigger picture, he can't replicate Rose's athleticism. Not only does that create a missing advantage for Chicago, it means that they'll have to play different over the next 4-6 weeks and then adjust. That creates problems.
Rose's ability to get to the basket changes how the team can play in terms of pace, a big factor for Hoiberg's offense. Aaron Brooks could get more time based on this element alone.
3. It's not going to help the public's perception of Rose. He will get bombarded with the tag of being injury prone, given that this is his seventh major injury since being drafted. After missing the entire 2013 season to injury, and most of the 2014 season, and part of the 2015 season, there's an overriding sense he can't stay on the floor.
This was a freak incident, but it certainly doesn't look good when put into the context of his career. Whether you believe it to be something inherent in his muscle and bone structure (science!) or simply a matter of him having terrible luck, Rose is facing a prolonged sequence of injuries which have caused him to miss significant time. The fact that Rose broke his face -- and this may be one of the lesser injuries he's suffered -- doesn't look great, but at least in comparison it's not as bad?
4. There is cruel irony in this happening the first day of practice under Hoiberg. After Tom Thibodeau's tyrannical reign of driving his players into the ground, past the soil and into the Earth's molten core, Hoiberg was hired in large part to change that culture. He talked openly on media day about the need to watch out for players' bodies first, and Jimmy Butler said Tuesday that Hoiberg has made it clear their condition is a priority for him.
So naturally, the first day of camp, Rose suffers a broken face. The universe is mean sometimes.
5. The Bulls' schedule isn't too bad during Rose's expected absence. Let's put his return conservatively at Nov. 20 -- seven-and-a-half weeks from now. Rose would miss the opening night contest vs. the Cavaliers, who are without Kyrie Irving and Iman Shumpert. (Are you guys excited for Kirk Hinrich vs. Mo Williams, live on TNT?) He would miss games vs. the Pistons, Hornets, Nets, Magic, 76ers, Pacers and Suns, and also games vs. the Thunder and Warriors.
So really, three hard games (Cavs, Thunder, Warriors) and a bunch of possible lottery teams. That's not too bad. So at least if Rose misses time, he's not going to be out when the Bulls need him most. Then again, they play in the East, so it's hard to say when that ever would be.
