During the Chicago Bulls game against the Milwaukee Bucks tonight, Derrick Rose felt the effects of yet another injury. This time, left patellar (front of knee) tendinitis (different from the right hamstring tendinitis and right knee "soreness" from a couple of weeks ago) has come up, and it's not something to be taken lightly. What this calls for is the LeBron James treatment -- in other words, let him rest for the next couple of weeks even though his ailments are something that could be played through and let him get healthy.
Last year at the beginning of January, James was diagnosed with a couple of minor injuries: a mild knee strain to along with a back strain. While he could've played through both of those injuries, he and the Cleveland Cavaliers deemed it best for him to just sit out a couple of weeks and get his body right for the rest of the year.
That was absolutely the right choice and it obviously helped him stay injury free for the rest of the season as they made it to The Finals before ultimately losing.
Rose needs the same treatment here.
It's only January, and Rose has dealt with a lot this season. Entering training camp, he was hit with an elbow at the first practice and received a fractured eye socket. That, in turn, has led to some great troubles to start 2015-16. The blurryness and double-vision from that injury caused him to struggle shooting for the first six or seven weeks before recently turning it around. But as soon as we started to see improvement on the court, Rose developed that tendinitis in his hamstring.
Now just for the edification of everyone, tendinitis is a classic overwork or overuse injury. It's a direct result of just doing too much.
When Rose's game started to come back to him as the eyesight improved, he started to work out even more in an attempt to keep his scoring rhythm going. Unfortunately, we saw that result in the hamstring tendinitis which then caused the right knee soreness; and because of those injuries to his right leg, his left leg has had to take more punishment as it was undoubtedly favored when his right one was hurt.
See where I'm going with this?
The safest and likely most logical mode of action here is for Rose to take a seat for a couple of weeks and get his body right. Rest, ice, light rehab -- perhaps, some water running to keep up the cardio, yeah?
Obviously, Rose wants to avoid further injury -- as do the Bulls. If it means he has to miss a few games in mid-January, then so be it. They have plenty of time to make up any lost ground, and it truly doesn't matter too much what seed the Bulls end up with anyway. If they're healthy going into the playoffs, they're good enough to compete for the East. It's that simple.
