Bulls Players Reportedly Know That Derrick Rose Isn't Coming Back
His teammates and coaches know it too.
From Woj:
"Rose isn't creating false hope with coach Tom Thibodeau, nor the rest of his teammates. They've never sat around waiting on him this season, and none of them privately believe that he'll be back before next season."
Rose has been cleared to play for months, and has been practicing and dunking in impressive fashion for weeks. But there has been no indication that a return in immenint — only the same ambiguous statements that his status is "up in the air."
The Yahoo! report doesn't say when Rose made his decision to sit out.
Chicago is severely undermanned going into the Miami series. Kirk Hinrich has missed the last two games, Luol Deng is out with a spinal tap-related injury, and Joakim Noah has a bum foot.
Rose would give them a huge lift. But would he give them a legitimate chance to win the series? Would it be worth it for him to come back at this point, only to lose in 5 games?
Probably not.
It makes sense for him to sit out from a basketball standpoint, and there's no real harm in not announcing the decision publicly. If nothing else, it makes the Heat prepare for the slight possibility that he could come back.
But from a public relations standpoint, keeping his decision under wraps has been terrible for Rose.
He was always perceived to be a old-school player who only cared about winning. His demeanor was summed up by this moment at the All-Star game when he stood stone-faced while his fellow players danced around:
Now there are some people, fair or not, questioning his toughness.