Cavaliers point guard Derrick Rose spoke to reporters today for the first time since returning from his time away from the club, and revealed a few more details about the ankle injury that has sidelined him for the last month. As Joe Vardon of Cleveland.com relays, Rose said he’s battling a bone spur, and if his rehab process doesn’t take, he may need to undergo a surgical procedure.
“It’s all about first getting the area to calm down and then strengthening your leg back up again,” Rose said. “So, afterwards, we may have to have a procedure but who knows.”
According to Vardon, it wasn’t clear whether Rose was referring to the possibility of undergoing surgery after the season or sooner than that. Either way, it doesn’t sound like great news for the oft-injured point guard, whose recent absence from the Cavaliers stemmed from an overwhelming frustration with his ongoing health problems.
Here’s more on Rose and the Cavs:
- When Rose was contemplating his basketball future, much was made of his Adidas contract, which still has a reported $80MM left on it. However, the former MVP said today that the endorsement money wasn’t a factor in his decision, per Vardon. “Not to be rude — I don’t care about no (expletive) money,” Rose said. “It’s not about that. I’ve saved up enough money. It’s not about that. If I wanted to leave, I would have left. Like I said, coming back here, starting with rehab that’s my first step. Keeping it simple and just giving my team support and then I’ll see what I see off the court.”
- Rose apologized to his Cavaliers teammates at Wednesday’s shootaround for his recent absence, a team source told Dave McMenamin of ESPN. Multiple Cavs, including LeBron James, had previously said that Rose didn’t owe the club an apology. “It wasn’t a big deal and didn’t need to be,” the team source said of the apology, per McMenamin.
- Injured big man Tristan Thompson had been hoping to get back on the court for the Cavs this week, but he experienced soreness in his troublesome left calf on Wednesday, which may delay his return. Vardon has the details at Cleveland.com.
- In his latest mailbag for Cleveland.com, Vardon examines how the Cavs’ rotation may change when Thompson returns, and discusses the viability of a potential trade involving Rose.
I suspect TT will remain on a kind of stand-by in case of situations needing a more traditional set-up, first OR second unit, which means widely varying minutes game to game. A lot would depend on how well Love and Frye hold up. Neither are probably in love with playing center.