9:36am: Rose will resume treatment and rehab on his injured left ankle, the Cavaliers announced today in a press release. As far as the Cavs are concerned, Rose is back with the team, tweets Wojnarowski.
“This has been a very challenging and difficult time for Derrick,” GM Koby Altman said in a statement. “We will continue to provide him with support and have patience as he re-joins his teammates and works his way back on to the court.”
8:57am: After spending nearly two weeks away from the Cavaliers as part of his “self-imposed exile,” Derrick Rose flew to Cleveland on Monday morning and intends to report to the Cavaliers’ practice facility, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN (Twitter link).
According to Wojnarowski, Rose is expected to meet with Cavaliers front office officials in order to begin the process of returning to the franchise. While it’s not clear when Rose will get back on the court, the Cavs have a busy week coming up, with four games on tap between now and Saturday, so there should be plenty of opportunities to reintegrate the veteran point guard into the lineup if he’s healthy.
Rose, who sprained his ankle early in November, had grown frustrated a history of injuries that has prevented him from ever capturing his MVP form. The 29-year-old asked Cavs management for some time away from the team to contemplate his basketball future, but has apparently decided that he’s not ready to call it a career quite yet.
It remains to be seen how the Cavs will use Rose when he’s ready to return. The former Bull was the team’s starting point guard earlier in the season, but he wasn’t distributing the ball well (1.7 APG), and Cleveland was just 4-3 in his seven games.
The Cavs, who are currently riding an 11-game winning streak, have gone 12-3 without Rose active this season. Cleveland has had Jose Calderon in its starting lineup for the past seven games, so it’s possible the team won’t want to change what has been working. Additionally, looking beyond just the next couple weeks, Isaiah Thomas figures to assume that starting point guard role once he has fully recovered from his hip injury.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
who cares about a has been that’s mostly a never was