Chicago Bulls Report: Derrick Rose Likely To Miss Rest Of Preseason

Chicago Bulls point guard Derrick Rose had surgery on Sep. 30 to repair a fractured orbital bone injury he sustained during the team’s first practice. At that point in time, the prognosis was that he would be able to resume basketball activities in approximately two weeks.

But thanks to blurred vision and swelling within the eye, it now appears that the recovery time will exceed the two week timetable that was initially provided. In fact, according to Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun-Times—not only will Rose miss the remainder of the preseason—there is also a chance that he will sit out the first week of the regular season as well. That’s a span in which the Bulls will play three contests in four nights.

Here is what first-year coach Fred Hoiberg told the Sun-Times about the latest developments:

"“They still want him to be a little bit careful just with the swelling, make sure that his vision is back to where it’s supposed to be, to where it was before he got hit, before they want him to get anything going on with his blood pressure spiking is how I understand it.”“So I think it’s still yet to be determined if we’re going to have him for the opener. But the good news is he’s progressing, he’s getting better. His vision is getting better, and hopefully we’ll get him back soon.’’"

Hoiberg also had this to say when he was asked about the possibility of Rose missing the first few regular season games:

"“That will be in consideration, sure. We gotta make sure, he really hasn’t done anything and that will be a good two or three weeks where he has total inactivity, so just to throw him back out there going 100 percent with his speed and everything, you just don’t want to take any risks, chances, where it could be a lingering issue.”"

The bad news is that there is no timetable as to when Rose is expected to return at this point. Furthermore, this is yet another instance in which the Bulls guard will be forced to sit out due to an injury.

And for those of you Bulls fans who have been following the twists and turns of Rose’s career, I’m fairly certain you are aware of the fact that he has sustained some kind of an injury in every season dating back to the 2011-12 campaign. In other words, here we go again.

The one silver lining in this scenario is that the latest setback occurred before the season began, which means that the Bulls should be able to remain competitive sans Rose, as they have done in years past. Secondly, the Bulls have a few options at the backup point guard spot.

Aaron Brooks, who averaged 11.6 points and 3.2 assists per contest last season, is a decent scorer and facilitator. Even more important, he is a difficult cover when he gets hot from the perimeter.

E’Twaun Moore, who didn’t see much playing time last season (9.0 MPG), is currently averaging 10.5 points and 2.8 assist per game during the preseason and is shooting a respectable 45 percent from the field. Yes, I know that preseason games are not anything to get overly excited about, but at least it provides us with a sense of what Moore brings to the table when he gets extended playing time.

And if all else fails, Kirk Hinrich is also a potential option. While Hinrich has struggled with his jump shot–converting less than 40 percent of his attempts in each of the last three seasons—he does a decent job of running the offense and he takes care of the basketball.

So taking this into consideration, the Bulls should be okay without Rose in the lineup. The unfortunate part about this is that we will not be able to gauge how effective the new-look offense is until we see how Rose performs within it.

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