Blake Griffin Speaks On Derrick Rose’s Meniscus Injury
Nov 22, 2013; Portland, OR, USA; Chicago Bulls point guard Derrick Rose (1) walks out of the Moda Center on crutches after being injured in the game against the Portland Trail Blazers. The Blazers won the game 98-95. Mandatory Credit: Steve Dykes-USA TODAY Sports
If anyone in the NBA is familiar with dealing with knee issues it’s Los Angeles Clippers forward Blake Griffin.
Being picked number one overall in the 2009 NBA Draft, Griffin was forced to wait a calendar year before he could show off his talents to the NBA due to a broken left kneecap that sidelined him for the entire season.
While the kneecap isn’t the issue, former league MVP in Derrick Rose is dealing with a similar issue after tearing his right meniscus in last nights loss to the Portland Trail Blazers, sidelining him “indefinitely”.
“I feel bad for him. You never want to see somebody go down,” said Blake after a win over the Sacramento Kings. “The good news is it’s not nearly as bad as what he just went through so, you know, wish him the best.”
By good news, Griffin is referring to the fear that Rose had torn the ACL in his right knee after sitting out an entire season rehabbing his left ACL, torn in the first game of the 2012 NBA playoffs.
Griffin is familiar with the torn meniscus process having been through the injury twice, once in college and noted that his recovery team was extremely fast.
“I tore my meniscus in college once and had surgery on a Sunday and played on Saturday.”
Indefinitely has been the recovery time released by the Chicago Bulls, but times vary depending on the player and the situation. When Blake tore his meniscus last summer, forcing him to miss the London Olympics, it took him two months to fully recover. The cases vary from person to person. While Metta World Peace of the New York Knicks returned 12 days after having surgery on his meniscus, Oklahoma City Thunder point guard Russell Westbrook returned after five months of recovery.
For Derrick Rose, the same questions that arose last year as he sat out will plague him again (though fans may approach the situation in a lighter manner due to back-to-back knee injuries): should he return ‘when healthy’ to help his team come playoff time. If last year showed us anything, November 23rd was the last we’ve seen of Rose this season. His future is more important than the now for Chicago and returning to appease fans and management only puts his health in more danger.
Prior to the meniscus injury, Rose looked like a shell of his former self, averaging 15.9 points on 35 percent from the field, 4.5 assists and 3.2 free-throw attempts per game, all career-lows. Even after putting on a spectacle in the preseason, it was clear Rose wasn’t the player that led the Chicago Bulls to the best record in the league in 2012. Mentally he reserved himself from doing his tricks of old and his confidence level had yet to return to the pre-injury point.
Now they’ve been damaged to a point further than their current position, but Blake thinks he can get back to normal if he focuses on his rehab and takes all of the proper time to heal himself.
“A lot of times if you go through rehab the right way and take your time you come back a little bit stronger. Hopefully that’s the approach he takes.”