Report: Cavaliers to keep Derrick Rose on minutes restriction all season

The oft-injured Rose reportedly will play no more than 28-31 minutes a night

As the Cleveland Cavaliers have learned already, Derrick Rose is quite injury prone and has a hard time staying healthy. Rose missed four games earlier this season after spraining his ankle against the Milwaukee Bucks in the Cavs' second game.

Taking that ankle knock and his previous injury history into account, the Cavs are reportedly planning on keeping Rose on a strict minutes restriction all season long. According to Dave McMenamin, Rose will play no more than 28-31 minutes a night. Via ESPN:

No matter how well Derrick Rose plays this season, he will remain on a strict 28-to-31-minute restriction, multiple sources told ESPN.

The Cavs arrived at the 28-to-31-minute range for Rose after Cavs coach Tyronn Lue, athletic trainer Steve Spiro and Rose's agent, B.J. Armstrong, came up with a long-term plan that they hope will keep Rose's body fresh for Cleveland's playoff run.

Rose, for his part, said that he's happy to be a part of the Cavs, and will go along with whatever the team decides is best.

"Let me say, for one, I'm just happy to be a part of this team, part of something that I think is special," Rose, 29, told ESPN. "A minute restriction, there's nothing I can do about that. But with me having all these injuries in my past, I'm kind of used to it. But whatever the team sees and the staff sees and they want me to do, that's what I'm going to cooperate with and just go about it the right way."

Rose had his best game as a Cavalier in Friday night's victory over the Washington Wizards. He scored 20 points on 8-for-16 shooting from the field and helped push the pace in the first quarter when the Cavs scored 42 points to jump out on top. 

While Rose is obviously not the player he once was before the injuries, he's the best point guard option the team currently has, so this minutes restriction is a wise move by Cleveland. Jose Calderon is their only other point guard until Isaiah Thomas comes back, which is expected to be sometime after the calendar turns to 2018. The Cavs need Rose to be healthy until then, and remain so afterwards in case Thomas suffers a setback or isn't up to his old abilities after the injury.