La Derrick Rose injury has been the main topic of conversation in the NBA over the weekend. Seeing how the MVP of the previous season has gone through an ordeal of physical problems in recent months so that in the first Playoff game he was injured for a period of between 6 and 9 months, has greatly impacted the world of sports. We analyze the facts and consequences of what happened on Saturday in Chicago from different perspectives.
SHOULD ROSE REMAIN ON COURT WITH A MATCH APPARENTLY SENTENCED?
Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau has been heavily criticized from some quarters for keeping Rose on the court with just over a minute left and a large lead. "I don't work knowing what was going to happen, like you [journalists] do," Thibodeau explained. "The scoreboard was getting tighter." Rose had missed 27 of his team's previous 66 games and was regaining form after a new injury, so apart from preserving the result, Thibodeau wanted his base to get into the rhythm of the game.
Some NBA coaches were asked about this topic on Sunday and the general consensus was that in situations like this they have a big dilemma, since they want to preserve the result but also avoid possible complications for their players.
"Philly was having a partial win, and in playoff basketball, you never want to give confidence to a rival team," said Rip Hamilton. "You can't let them get back into the game or have a short quarter, so we needed players on the court who could put the ball in the basket."
As a note related to this topic, it must be reflected that Andrew Bynum, Pau Gasol and Kobe Bryant were on the court against the Nuggets until 1:58 minutes remained despite their team's large advantage (95-80 at that time).
COMPRESSED AND BRUTAL SEASON; HE LOCKOUT IS IT THE CAUSE OF THE INJURY?
Hours after the injury, players, former players and journalists joined the trend that the brutal regular season to which the players have been subjected due to the Lockout (66 games in just four months) was causing serious injuries to some athletes.
Of course, much of the criticism was directed at David Stern, the NBA Commissioner who had approved celebrating the season in this way. What many did not say is that The players as a collective also supported and approved this demanding season in exchange for not losing more money due to Lockout.
However, taking a look at what has happened in recent years, we find a surprise. Derrick Rose's has been the fourth anterior cruciate ligament injury in 2012 (66 games), but the average number of injuries with anterior cruciate ligament tears in the previous five seasons (82 games) is 4,8, superior to what has been seen so far this season.
This year the teams have played three games in three days, four in five, seven in ten and even nine in twelve. Brutal periods of work and effort that have put many bodies to the limit. But have four players' cruciate ligaments really been torn as a result?
Rip Hamilton guaranteed major injuries at the beginning of the season when facing a schedule that prevented training and recovery, but in return favored competition with hardly any rest. The Bulls guard has also gone through several physical problems that caused him to miss 38 games, but he was never in a rush to return. «This season is criminal, you know? You have to endure the urge to come back because your body is not going to be healthy if you don't listen to it," Hamilton said a few weeks ago.
Rose has suffered a multitude of injuries this year - six - and as everyone knows the human body is connected; If you have a foot problem it may come from the hip and hip problems may come from the back. But it is also true that she had only played five games in the last 45 days.
The fact is that Rose, a player who had participated in 280 of the 286 games prior to this year, entered into a dynamic of injuries from which he was never able to escape. His joints have been enduring brutal efforts and tremendous twists due to Rose's physical and mental characteristics and the worst of the injuries came at the least opportune moment after a period with characteristics that he had never gone through in his career. he.
THE SUBSTITUTES
CJ Watson (11,5 points and 4,5 assists) as a starter and John Lucas III (10,4 points and 3,0 assists) as a substitute, will be in charge of occupying Rose's position in the lineup that the Bulls present in the future. What remains of the Playoffs. "We simply have to respond," Lucas said. «Recover as we have done all year. We have responded to all the challenges this year. Lu [Luol Deng] injured, Derrick injured, CJ out, we've all stepped up. "That's our mentality."
According to data from ESPN, the Bulls have done much better with Lucas on the track than with Watson even though he is the second baseman after Rose. Per 100 possessions, the Bulls were 16 points better with Lucas than with Watson on the hardwood.
THE FUTURE OF CHICAGO BULLS FOR THIS SEASON
Fans on social networks, the media and almost all analysts were quick to call Chicago's chances of holding a championship this season after Rose's injury as null and void. The general belief is that the Bulls should have no problems finishing off Philadelphia, but from then on enemies like Boston, Atlanta and especially Miami, a wall that many think the Bulls will not be able to overcome without their star. Few remember that in two games played this year between both teams without the presence of Rose there was a victory for each franchise.
Tom Thibodeau wanted to lift the spirits of his players in training on Sunday. «Derrick is not only a great player, he is a great teammate, a great person, but [this] It's not a death sentence«explained the Bulls coach. «It is not a death sentence for him, it is not a death sentence for our team. He's going to come back. He will come back better than ever. This is what it is and we have to accept it that way.
Rose's companions have also accepted their fate and do not shy away from it. "We're not going to let anyone tell us what's going to happen," said Joakim Noah. «Of course it's hard to lose Derrick. I feel sorry for him, but we can't sympathize. "The entire team has to step forward." Of course, the center of French origin recognizes that it is a major setback. «Our margin of error is much smaller with Derrick out«.
The Bulls with Rose on the court have completed a 32-7 run in the regular season; without him, a more modest 18-9 but that speaks highly of the team, taking into account that some of those victories came against rivals such as Miami, Boston, Orlando, Atlanta, New York and Philadelphia.
WILL HE BE THE SAME PLAYER AGAIN?
Derrick Rose's sixth injury of the season has been the most devastating of all. The Chicago native will have to go through a tough recovery process of which there are many guarantees but which do not ensure that there may not be some consequences or that the player will be exactly the same again. For a player as physical as Rose, who has pushed his body to the limit every time he has played, the injury is dangerous not only because of the time it will keep him out of basketball.
His speed, changes of direction and drives to the basket, planting both feet with brutal force, may suffer alterations when he is recovered and can play again. A player's knee never remains the same after an intervention of this magnitude, but in Rose's favor is his age - 23 years - and a capacity for sacrifice and work that is unsurpassed in the NBA according to teammates and trainers from different teams. A few weeks ago we reviewed how the races that we had evolved had evolved. the players who had suffered the same injury as Rose.
THE RECOVERY PERIOD
The time that a player who suffers a torn cruciate ligament must remain without returning to competition ranges between six and nine months. This injury requires surgical intervention, but it cannot be performed until a few weeks - between two and four - have passed after the accident has occurred. It is at that moment when the condition of the knee is checked exactly and deadlines can be set more approximately.
In any case, it is taken for granted that Rose will miss the Playoffs, Olympic Games, NBA preseason and most likely between one and two months of the 2012-13 regular season.
“There is nothing final yet,” commented Tom Thibodeau. «He still has to talk to the doctors, [trainer] Fred [Tedeschi] and then make the plan. Normally there is a waiting period and then they will perform the surgery.
THE OLYMPIC GAMES
Rose's mishap also represents a problem for the American team, which sees another player forced out of the pre-selection for London 2012. The injured Chauncey Billups, Dwight Howard and LaMarcus Aldridge, and the inactive Lamar Odom are already ruled out, leaving, along with Rose, the initial list at only 15 players.
Jerry Colangelo declared a few days before Rose's injury that the preselection would not be expanded despite the losses suffered, but it will be necessary to see if this new setback does not change the mind of the North American Olympic team. At the moment it seems that Chris Paul, Deron Williams and Russell Westbrook will occupy the rotation at the point guard position without the need for a new player for that position.
NIKE-ADIDAS CONTROVERSY
Not only was Rose seriously injured on Saturday, but so was Iman Shumpert. Both were wearing Adidas sneakers, so some started a morbid controversy to make the German brand look bad.
But there was one person who strayed too far from political correctness. Jason Petrie, a Nike designer who is the main man behind LeBron James' sneaker model, wrote a tweet out of place:
You got one guy only getting stronger, and one guy breaking down before our very eyes. You chose poorly Pooh…#shouldassignedwithNIKE #GWS
— Jason Petrie (@sevenzro1) April 28
Traducción: «An increasingly stronger player and another guy who breaks before our eyes. You chose wrong Pooh… #shouldhavesignedwithNIKE #GWS (Get Well Soon)
Pooh is the nickname that Rose's mother called her son and Rose is Adidas' main star since he arrived in the NBA, having renewed his contract with the German company a few months ago, so it was clear that Petrie would He was referring to Rose.
Su tweet It provoked an avalanche of criticism to which the designer responded defiantly until on Sunday, perhaps advised by those around him, he asked for forgiveness.
Nike was quick to show its disagreement with its employee through an official statement: "As a brand passionate about sports, we know the high level of intensity that each athlete has put in during this basketball season and we respect the dedication necessary to compete. One of our sneaker designers posted comments online that we believe were inappropriate, and he has since apologized. We wish a speedy recovery to whoever is injured."
Now it remains to be seen if Jason Petrie will continue giving interviews as a Nike worker and designing a model as iconic as the LeBron James sneaker series.
CONTROVERSY OVER THE SNEAKERS
There are those who blame Derrick Rose's injury on the player's Adidas shoes, one of the lightest models on the market for practicing basketball, and Shumpert's injury appears as an "ally" of this theory. But Shumpert was playing with the adidas Top Ten, a 2000 model with considerably less technology than available in the adizero Rose 2.5. Furthermore, the lightness of Rose's sneakers is neither outrageous nor unique; Without going any further Kobe Bryant played the 2009-10 season (NBA champion) with a shoe less heavy.
Throughout history some coach like Phil Jackson has dared to blame certain models of shoes as causing injuries, but in this particular case the controversy seems misplaced.
AN ECONOMIC BACKGROUND FOR ADIDAS
First it was Chauncey Billups. Then Dwight Howard. Now comes Rose's injury. Three important players represented by the German brand who were going to participate in the Olympic Games in an American team full of Nike stars, will no longer be able to be in the global sports spotlight next summer.
Adidas only owns 4,5% of the basketball shoe market in the United States according to SportsOneSource.com, while Nike owns the 91%, including 58% ownership of the Jordan brand, owned by Nike. The 13-year agreement of at least 185 million dollars that Adidas will pay in exchange for exploiting Rose's image, aims to ensure that Rose can become an athlete as important for the German brand as Jordan was for Nike, but the setback The fact that Rose's non-presence at London 2012 means will not help achieve the company's objectives.
AND MOST IMPORTANTLY, HOW IS ROSE DOING IT?
"As well as you can handle in these situations," Thibodeau responded to the question. «I have spoken to him several times, he will get over it. He is a guy with a very strong mind. At the moment there has been no type of statement or communication from the player or his representatives.