John Calipari Comments on Derrick Rose's Pain Threshold

Chicago Bulls fans are well aware of Derrick Rose's lengthy injury history and have likely concluded he's simply one of those players who will always be dogged by one health issue after another over his NBA career.

In an interview on The Herd with Colin Cowherd on Wednesday, Rose's former college coach, John Calipari, acknowledged the former MVP "doesn’t have a real high pain threshold" (via Dan Cahill of the Chicago Sun-Times):

According to CBSChicago.com's Cody Westerlund, Bulls head coach Fred Hoiberg declined to offer a rebuttal of Calipari's point:    

After missing five regular-season games through his first three years, Rose fell apart physically in large part because of major knee injuries. His luck got even worse ahead of this season after he suffered a broken orbital bone during practice. In November, he admitted, "[My vision] is still blurry when I look certain ways," per ESPN.com's Nick Friedell.

Not every NBA star is built the same, which is the only way you can explain Tim Duncan going nearly 20 years without a major injury, while greats such as Grant Hill and Bill Walton both had their primes cut short because of persistent injury problems.

The Bulls can handle Rose with the utmost care, and it's no guarantee he'll stay healthy for a full season.

In addition, you can understand why Rose, given all the problems he has already dealt with, wouldn't want to push his body too far in the event he isn't feeling 100 percent. He has always been upfront about his desire to have a good quality of life once his basketball career is over. If ensuring that happens means missing a few games here and there, then nobody should begrudge Rose in that pursuit.