After receiving plenty of hate during the 2012-13 NBA season, Chicago Bulls star Derrick Rose is getting support from every coach and former player out there. Rose spent the entire season on the bench rehabbing a torn ACL in his left knee and much to the dismay of Bulls' fans everywhere, never contributed a single minute to Chicago's season. Hall of Fame player Scottie Pippen is upset Rose received so much criticism from fans.
"I was kind of surprised people turned on him knowing the difficulty of Derrick's injury. No one can justify what he's going through. No one can make his decision as to when to get back on the basketball court. I thought he took a little bit of a hit for it. As a player that has played this game, I know at the end of the day I've had numerous amount of surgeries, and the doctors released me at numerous amount of times to go and play. But a lot of those times didn't mean go and play against the world right now, but to get yourself ready to compete again," Pippen said.
Rose was cleared during the season to resume basketball activity. Many fans took that to mean he was ready to hop back onto the court and play at the same level he was at prior to injury. The bulls left the door open for Rose to return for the playoffs after he failed to make it back after the All-Star break. However, Rose never suited up, drawing criticism from fans and NBA analysts wondering why he refused to play through it.
Pippen understands that Chicago fans are demanding and can grow impatient. He believes Rose only did what was best for his future career and long-term success.
"We were all hoping that things would have worked out, but it didn't work out that way. But there's no reason to start to doubt or have any negative activity about Derrick because he was not able to come back this season. I think you just have to look ahead and believe that it was the right decision as a whole, for him, for the organization and we have to move on," Pippen said.
