He has to be done. You cannot rely on him any more. As others are saying, he should not play anymore because it’s obvious he is pretty fragile and he has a life to live beyond basketball. Even if he can “play,” how many times must the iron burn your hand before you stop touching it?
My expectation is that he will (shouldn’t, but will) come back before the playoffs, perform un-spectacularly while the Bulls lose in the first or second round, and remain on the roster for next year while people speculate about his future contributions.
Fine. Then let him retire. That way they can free up the spot for someone else*. It’s not fair to his teammates if he’s constantly sitting out, even after he’s been cleared to play. How many guys would KILL for a chance to play in the NBA? And he’s just wasting it.
Other athletes have had to retire early due to injuries. (Some of the greatest athletes in history, even!) There’s no shame in it. He could still continue with the organization in some other capacit – he could work as a sports analyst, or a commentator.
*Is there a salary cap in the NBA? If so, I think that should be a consideration as well.
Yes. It doesn’t function quite like caps in the NFL or NHL, but there is a cap. And, really, there is a salary cap in MLB, but it’s disguised as “luxury tax.”
The Bulls and Rose have a contract, it states that the Bulls agree to pay him a bunch of money, and he agrees to play basketball. That’s a contract. He plays, they pay.
In a guaranteed contract… what is different? What’s guaranteed isn’t the Bulls payout. What’s guaranteed is the contract, the existence of the contract. Each side of the deal still has to fulfill their half of the contract. Rose has to agree to play (if he is physically able to) and the Bulls have to pay him (if they’re not bankrupt).
Under no circumstances does Rose get to decide that he doesn’t want to do the work he’s being paid to do, and still get paid. There’s a fuzzy area there, where he can avoid playing if he can reasonably say he’s not healthy, but conceptually he’s supposed to do the work, even if the contract is guaranteed.
Riiiigggggt. But he’s injured, not refusing to play. They have to pay him regardless of whether he plays or not, due to circumstances not under his control. That’s the scenario here. Why are you dreaming up “he refuses to play” scenarios?
It kinda is. Playing sports at the professional level always has a trade off of putting your long term health at risk to make money now. Derrick Rose was paid, very handsomely, to put his knees and the rest of his body at risk every time he played basketball.
I’m not dreaming up anything, I’m responding to his very clear statement (from the OP) that he had chosen to sit out to protect his health after retirement. That is a choice, it is under his control, and could be considered a violation of his contractual obligations.
And that he refused to play once medically cleared by the doctor. As far as I’m concerned if you are medically cleared you either play or you don’t get paid.
I believe his doctors have cleared him to play. Which means, he’s no longer injured, merely afraid of another one.
Here’s the thing: playing pro-sports involves a risk of injury. If he didn’t realize that going in, then he’s gotta be one of the world’s biggest dumbasses. Maybe basketball isn’t quite as risky as football or hockey, but you still take the chance that you’re gonna get hurt. If he didn’t know that going in, I have no sympathy for the guy.
The OP was written 3 months ago. The OP then revived the thread on 2/25, ostensibly to discuss Derrick Rose’s current situation. To wit: Rose is not refusing to play, he is injured. Prior to the most recent injury, he missed only 1 of the last 30 games (the 1 game was due to reported left knee soreness). So it seems to me the discussion should now be about whether Rose should play again because of his fragility or should the Bulls rely on him anymore. The discussion (in this thread) about him refusing to play when healthy died months ago and he’s done nothing since then to trigger a renewal of that discussion. The situations are different.