The Chicago Bulls go as Derrick Rose goes. Ultimately there's no question about that. He's not just the best player on the team, he's the heart and soul of the team. How this team contends in the postseason will depend on his toughness now.
The thing of this is, that whether he's sitting on the bench, or playing in the game, it's hard to distinguish which is the tougher decision.
As the Boston Celtics were beating the Bulls on Sunday afternoon, and Rose was watching Rajon Rondo (who has averaged just 11.4 points against Rose in the regular season) romp past the Bulls for 31 points and a triple-double, the pain on his face watching his team lose seemed greater than the pain in his back.
Rose may need to show some toughness to play through the injuries in the postseason if the things like his back and his toe are still bothering him, but those are the kinds of toughness we've see from him before.
The toughness that Rose must find right now is the toughness to not help his team. While I do believe the position that "the regular season doesn't mean anything" is overstated, I'll say that the regular season doesn't mean nearly as much as the postseason.
The Bulls' superstar point guard should have a mentality that he has about 40 "healthy" games left to play. Where does he want to use them?
Sitting out until after the All-Star Game would give him enough rest to completely recover, and would give him a return which likely would coincide with Rip Hamilton. That would allow the Bulls to play their starting five together (finally) until the postseason and actually get a feel for each other.
The toughness he's going to have to play is the kind of toughness that you display when you sacrifice now to gain later. Yes the Bulls are going to lose some games without Rose that they wouldn't lose with him. Yes, that might cost them the Boston game tonight. Yes, it's a good thing.
It's a good thing because they can still compete for the top overall seed without him. If you want to argue about that fine, but right now the Bulls do have the best record in the NBA in spite of Rose having missed eight games.
They can still win games without him. They might have some games they will lose, but they'll have a lot more games they will win.
But a healthy Rose, and for that matter, a healthy Richard Hamilton, are far more important in the postseason than it is right now. Sometimes it's hard to see beyond what's right in front of us. Rose needs to consider what's beyond the regular season right now. He needs to be tough enough to be willing to lose now, so they can win later.
Pat Burrell Jhan Marinez Anibal Sanchez John Baker Brad Davis Logan Morrison
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