Taj Gibson Following the Derrick Rose Plan with Latest Ankle Injury
PORTLAND, Ore. — Taj Gibson is no stranger to ankle sprains, but the walking boot he was wearing in the Chicago Bulls’ locker room Friday night was an unfamiliar sight.
“I didn’t even want to wear crutches,” he laughed. “Doctor’s orders.”
Gibson re-injured his left ankle midway through the third quarter of the Bulls’ 105-87 loss to the Portland Trail Blazers. It was the same ankle he sprained against the Cleveland Cavaliers in October, although this one came at a much more inopportune time.
Midway through a seven-game road trip, the Bulls are without two starters (Derrick Rose and Pau Gasol) and two vital bench contributors (Gibson and Kirk Hinrich). And although Gibson has been known throughout his six-year career as one of the toughest players in the NBA, someone who has played through injuries year after year, he might not be back on the court for a while.
“I have to just be smart,” Gibson said. “I have to really get it strong. It hurts my athleticism, not being able to do certain things. I have to just be smart, try to get healthy and be there for my teammates. But it’s frustrating. Everyone knows how I am. It takes a lot to have me sit out.”
If his words sound familiar, it’s because they’ve been heard often from another voice in the Bulls’ locker room. Rose has battled serious knee injuries for two consecutive seasons and is currently sitting out with a strained left hamstring. Throughout his conservative treatment plan, his mantra has been the same: Just be smart.
Rose was one of the first people Gibson spoke to Friday night after returning to the Bulls’ locker room, and he’s going to follow the former MVP’s lead in taking his time coming back from this injury.
“Derrick asked me, ‘Is it the same ankle you hurt before?’” Gibson said. “And I said, ‘yeah.’ And he was saying to me, ‘You’ve got to be patient. You’ve got to stay on top of that. It’s a long year. You can’t sprint to the finish.’”
It’s an approach that’s alien to Gibson, who is just starting to come around to the idea that his long-term outlook is more important than playing tomorrow or the next day.
“I have to stop trying to run back out there, stop trying to play through these things,” he said. “We have a long season. But it’s just the dog in me that always wants to be out there and play. I have to learn from this.”
Meanwhile, as the injuries keep piling up, the schedule isn’t slowing down for the Bulls. This is far from their first time playing shorthanded. But considering how well they’ve played in the handful of games where they have had everyone healthy, it’s hard not to get frustrated at the constant parade of setbacks.
“It sucks that guys get hurt,” said Joakim Noah. “But you’ve got to keep moving forward because the games keep coming. Nobody feels sorry for you, so you’ve got to keep going and keep getting better. Hopefully Taj will be alright.”
With so many of their most important players out, it’s unclear what the rest of the rotation will look like. Rose, Gasol and Hinrich are all day-to-day, but with the high-altitude Utah-Denver back-to-back next on the schedule, followed by a trip back east to play the Boston Celtics and Brooklyn Nets, it’s not likely any of them will return this week.
The Bulls’ front office may look to fill the final roster spot if the injuries linger, but this is going to be a challenging stretch either way. There’s going to be a lot of Tony Snell and E’Twaun Moore in the rotation. Even 17th-year pro Nazr Mohammed, who was signed strictly as a veteran locker room presence, got first-quarter minutes Friday.
It will be a valuable learning experience for the Bulls’ younger players, like Nikola Mirotic (24 points and 11 rebounds versus the Trail Blazers) and Doug McDermott, but that will also likely mean some ugly wins and even uglier losses.
The next two weeks are going to look a lot like the Bulls’ last two years, scrapping for wins shorthanded and relying on toughness to push through. At least this time, none of their stars’ injuries are career-threatening.
Gibson hopes to keep it that way, which is why he’s taking a page from Rose’s book.
“I’ve got to trust the doctors and do this the right way, instead of just saying ‘patch me up, coach’ and throw me back out there.”
Sean Highkin covers the Chicago Bulls for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter @highkin
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