Derrick Rose’s Brother Says He Anticipated Backlash

Ever since Derrick Rose blew out his left knee in April, 2012, his brother Reggie has been the most vocal member of the Rose camp (which hasn’t always worked out well). The elder Rose now says that fan and media backlash last season as Derrick sat out the entire year came as no surprise to them. Per the Chicago Tribune: “The photos and video clips from Derrick Rose’s shoe promotional tour of Europe showed the light-hearted moments. The reality, according to Rose’s older brother and manager, Reggie, involved a bit more perspiration. ‘He was getting up at 6:30 every morning and working out with (Bulls assistant strength and conditioning coach) Nick Papendieck,’ Reggie Rose said Monday. ‘He has a positive attitude. He’s ready to go. Looking at his body, he’s really strong. The only thing he has to work on is cardio and getting in game shape. But that will come (in training camp). I have no concerns about him physically.’ […] ‘I knew he was going to get that backlash,’ Reggie Rose said. ‘You got Chicago Bull fans who are going to cheer the team no matter what. Then you have Derrick Rose fans who only want to come to the game when Derrick plays. You’ll get the backlash, but I feel once he gets back on the court, all that stuff will stop and they’ll be cheering for him.’ Reggie also insisted the criticism never bothered Derrick. ‘Coming from Englewood, if someone says something negative about us or our family, it’s like brushing crumbs off our shoulders,’ Reggie Rose said. ‘It’s nothing to us. We made it through Englewood. Everybody is entitled to their opinion. That’s all it was.’ After the May 2012 surgery, team physician Brian Cole, who performed the surgery, talked about the therapeutic benefit to playing in games whenever Rose felt ready. Cole also emphasized it could take longer than the eight- to 12-month timeline the organization placed on Rose’s return for him to regain his dynamic explosiveness. When Rose returns for preseason games in October, it will be just over 17 months since he last played in an NBA game. ‘We couldn’t base his whole career on one year,’ Reggie Rose said. ‘We look at the longevity of it. Derrick is going into his fifth year. I think Derrick should probably be able to play 15 to 18 years. So it was like why take a gamble on one year when we can make sure that he’s all right and have him for the next 10 years? That was ultimately the decision we made as a team after he tried to get back. And we just stuck with it.'”