Twitter Reacts as MRI Reveals Derrick Rose's Knee Injury Requires Surgery
Derrick Rose's return to the Chicago Bulls lineup this season has not been as successful as expected in the early going, and things took a grave turn for the worse on Friday evening.
The superstar point guard exited the team's 98-95 road loss to the Portland Trail Blazers with a right knee injury with 3:20 left in the third quarter. He had to be helped into the locker-room tunnel, unable to walk under his own power.
Head coach Tom Thibodeau didn't exactly offer words of comfort regarding Rose's status after the game.
NBA.com revealed bad news from the MRI:
"Subsequent examinations and an MRI confirmed a medial meniscus tear to his right knee, which will require surgery. Rose is out indefinitely, and will not accompany the team on the rest of its current road trip.
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The 25-year-old Rose tore the ACL in his left knee which kept him out for the entire 2012-13 campaign and caused him to miss a shot at a potential NBA title run in the 2012 postseason.
While some initially feared that Rose had torn his other ACL, the news was at least good in that respect. A meniscus tear is serious enough it's unclear when he'll be back in the lineup, but Cassidy Hubbarth of ESPN expressed her happiness that he avoided a similar fate—even if it came with some regret:
Marc Stein of ESPN, on the other hand, wasn't ready to give good news. According to the ESPN reporter, the "vibe" remains dire for Rose's status going forward:
Matt Weiner of NBA TV also expressed regret over what this means for the league:
Sentiments from all over the Internet were ones of sadness. But news of Rose's injury also opened up a can of worms as to when it will be "right" for him to return. Vincent Goodwill of the Detroit News thinks Rose should take his time:
Kevin Ferrigan of the Bulls blog BullsByTheHorns.com took a more macro approach. With Rose injured, he's ready for the team to start a rebuilding phase:
Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel had the reaction from one of Rose and the Bulls' chief competitors, Miami Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra:
Although Spoelstra expressed regret about Rose's injury, his team stands to benefit. Chicago was expected to compete with the Indiana Pacers and Heat for the Eastern Conference Championship this season.
Rose's injury obviously throws a monkey wrench into those plans. In fact, Noam Schiller of Hardwood Paroxysm makes the astute observation that perhaps only Indiana and Miami are true competitors now:
In the macro, it makes a ton of sense to look at what Rose's injury means for the Bulls, Heat and the rest of the conference. But for now, perhaps the only proper emotion is disappointment as one of the NBA's most exciting players will again have to build his way back up from a debilitating knee injury.
