Derrick Rose: From agony of injury to joy of fatherhood

Jeff Zillgitt, USA TODAY Sports | USATODAY

Show Caption Hide Caption Derrick Rose on his state of mind Bulls star Derrick Rose nears return from injury and talks to USA TODAY Sports.

Injured Chicago Bulls guard Derrick Rose spoke on injury%2C fatherhood for first time this season

Rose told USA TODAY Sports he won%27t come back from ACL injury until %22I%27m 110%25%22

Rose said having son Derrick %22P.J.%22 Rose Jr. has helped provide positive outlook

DEERFIELD, Ill. — Everybody, Chicago Bulls general manager Gar Forman says, wants to know when All-Star point guard Derrick Rose will return. "We would like to know the exact date," Forman says.

The return date remains a mystery to Rose, who hasn't played a game since tearing the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee last April in the opener of the 2012 NBA playoffs.

"I'm not coming back until I'm 110%," he says. "Who knows when that can be?"

It tugs on Rose, who revealed his emotions in a wide-ranging interview with USA TODAY Sports, his first since the season began. As it concluded, the new father said, "It's great (to) get that off my chest."

It had been confined inside him, for the most part, the impact of that devastating injury. "That's a day I don't want to remember," he said.

What Rose recalls in excruciating detail is the pain after the May 12 surgery: holes drilled in the tibia and femur, replacing the torn ACL with a piece of the patellar tendon.

"My health was terrible, where I wasn't eating," Rose said. "They put me on medication. And when you're not eating and taking the kind of medication they gave me, it can mess up your body. It messed me up for like a week where I was throwing up consistently every day.

"I couldn't walk. I was in pain. My hamstrings were on fire. They had to block the nerve in my leg, so when that nerve block wore off, the pain came. It felt like someone was hitting my hamstrings with a sledgehammer."

The humble star became even more humble and more appreciative of those around him, such as his mother, Brenda, and his brothers, Dwayne, Reggie and Allan.

"With that injury, you can't walk. You need help," Rose said. "Knowing that, it's all right for someone that loves you to take care of you.

"I'm a loner. I'm used to do everything myself. For someone to help me out in a physical way, it was different. Helping me up out of the bed. That was something I could easily do. But everything changed then."

What helped Rose in his rehab was another life-changing event, the birth of Derrick Rose Jr. last Oct. 9. The son also goes by Pooh, Rose's lifelong nickname. Pooh Jr. They call him P.J.

"It's great. Everything else doesn't matter. He's first," Rose said.

"Everything stopped when he was born. I try to spoil him as much as possible, not only with material stuff, but just being around him with love and support, letting him know that I will always be there.

"He can recognize me now where he can tell when I'm around," Rose said. "It's just been great. You just learn so much. It seems like everything slows down for you in your life. Priorities are everything."

REHAB GOES SLOWLY

He keeps that in mind as he attacks his rehab and tries to remain patient about when he can join the Bulls, who are 30-21, in fourth place in the Eastern Conference, just a 1/2 game behind the Indiana Pacers.

"It can be within a couple of weeks. It could be next year. It could be any day. It could be any time," Rose said. "It's just that I'm not coming back until I'm ready. With all the hard work I've been putting into my craft, I think I'm going to be OK."

And yet, if he isn't playing until he's "110%," how close is he?

"Right now, probably in the high 80s," he said. "Far away. Far away."

Feeling conflicted was one of many themes the normally quiet and reserved Rose spoke of, such as fatherhood, his intensive rehabilitation, the Bulls' season without him and what he expects when he returns.

The rehabilitation was a slow process, requiring the patience Rose never needed, for the lifestyle changes in the gym and at home.

"I used to complain to the trainers a lot," Rose said. "But it wasn't the type of complaining where I was irritated. ... I complained, but I did my work."

Never much of a stretcher or weightlifter, Rose now needs 30-40 minutes to stretch and is squatting 300-350 pounds. His legs and knees, he says, are stronger than ever.

"The ligament, the tendon, everything is healed," he said.

Rose also is more cognizant of what he eats and drinks. A noted candy fiend, Rose eats breakfast, lunch and dinner at scheduled times with snacks in between. "But the right snacks," Rose said.

The Skittles, Fritos, Gummy Bears and sugar-laced drinks have been replaced with fruit, granola, water and protein shakes.

"I'm not done with it," Rose said. "But I know when to eat it."

Rose not only dedicated himself to recovery, but he focused on an aspect of basketball that didn't capture his attention until he had to stay off the court: film study.

"If anything this is going to help me become a better player and become more efficient with my game," Rose said. "This is the most I've ever watched film or NBA basketball period with other teams. I always did everything off of basic instincts. Now actually seeing all their games, it's going to help me. It's helped me learn the coaches, how every coach in the NBA coaches their system. Knowing play calls for certain teams."

Before P.J. was born, Rose devoured books. If he's at home, it's a physical book. If he's traveling, it's an e-book. Two stand out to Rose — Cooked by Jeff Henderson and Think Big by Ben Carson. Both are autobiographical works about finding success against the odds.

"I mature more, not only on the court, but off the court, too," Rose said.

NOW JUST GO OUT AND DO IT

Rose began shooting in August with basketball trainer Rob McClanaghan, who has worked with Rose since the summer after his senior year of high school at Simeon (Chicago). They met again in November and three weeks ago.

"It was good to get in the gym but it was also good for him mentally — back in the gym where it started, talking trash and getting shots up," McClanaghan said.

"He learned a lot about his body, and that's something he would have never learned. ... He even saw, 'I can get even better.' Is he going to be better than he was? To be determined. But I tell you what, he didn't cut himself short."

Will he able to be the same explosive player he was pre-injury? "For sure. I could do that right now," Rose said. "But I'm just being patient. You don't want to rush anything."

There is the mental component, too, and Rose is dealing with that. He said he hasn't taken a hit in practice, but isn't concerned. "That's the way I play," he said.

However, he added, "It's only me getting over that scared stage and just going out there and playing with that confidence, knowing I've been training six days a week and everything will be all right. ... It's just that like driving is totally different because the injury happened when I was driving" to the basket in the playoff opener.

So Rose and the Bulls take their time. For the most part, the Bulls have handled Rose's absence well, despite Monday's home loss to the San Antonio Spurs, who played without Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili, Tony Parker and Stephen Jackson.

"What we really tried to do was stay true to the process and not skip steps as he went along his rehabilitation," Forman said. "We wanted to make sure we did what was right for Derrick."

FAMILY OF SUPPORT

With a combination of confidence and apprehension, Rose ponders how he'll play upon his return.

"With all this hard work I've been putting into my game, I'm doing stuff I never did before," he said. "I gained 10, 11 pounds of muscle. I don't know what type of player I'm going to be. I just know that I'm going to be very good.

"The people here at the organization have been great with not pushing me and not putting a timetable on when I'm coming back. It's just making me feel comfortable knowing I just have my son and basketball to focus on."

There's apprehension because he doesn't want to disappoint. The homegrown Chicagoan is the city's favorite athlete. The support he received overwhelmed him.

Adidas captured the city's appreciation with a bold and brilliant ad campaign called "The Return." The day after Rose tore his ACL, Adidas went to work.

"We had a pretty good idea of what we wanted to do," said Lawrence Norman, vice president of Adidas global basketball. "We knew we wanted to do something unique and something that had never been done in the industry before, which is showing the athlete when he's not on a pedestal but on the road to recovery."

Ryan Morlan, Adidas' director of marketing for basketball, and his team came up with The Return and began releasing commercials in a mini-documentary format, culminating with the powerful spot "Wake Up."

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The spot begins with Rose going down on his drive to the basket. "Holding on to his knee … holding on to his knee and down," TNT announcer Kevin Harlan bellows as it begins.

The dramatic commercial unfolds with the city of Chicago coming to a glum standstill — a cab stopped on a bridge, a sports bar full of depressed Bulls fans, a heartbroken kid in a bedroom plastered with Rose posters.

"That commercial that you see every 10 minutes, that's really the way the city was," said Atlanta Hawks forward-guard Kyle Korver, Rose's former Bulls teammate. "The whole city really was taken aback by it and really down because of who he is and because of how he plays the game and how hard he works and because of how he treats people. All those things wrapped into one make Derrick Rose who he is."

The commercial continues with Rose in the weight room. Like a migrating bird announcing the arrival of spring, Chicago comes back to life. It ends with Rose walking back onto the court in a Bulls uniform.

Rose loves the ad.

"If you got injured and you wanted a commercial to come out, if you asked any other player or anyone in any type of sport to ask for a commercial, it would be a commercial just like that — where everything stops in the city and you working hard to get back on the court," he said.

The commercial puts no more pressure on him than he does himself.

"Without pressure, I wouldn't be the player that you see playing on the court like you saw before the injury," he said. "If I had everything my way, I probably wouldn't work as hard as I work.

"If you have greatness in you, the city is going to find a way to make it come out no matter what you're doing."

Rose loves basketball, but he pursued his dream for a singular reason.

"My whole life has been nothing but trying to find a way to take care of my mom and take care of my family as quickly as possible," he said.

And now there's an addition to the family. When not answering questions or shooting baskets, Rose is holding P.J. the entire time. The young one, he said, already runs the house.

Rose grew up in a tough part of Chicago protected by his mom and brothers. P.J. will not grow up in the same neighborhood. But he will be surrounded by a close-knit group, including the family of P.J.'s mom, Mieka Reese.

"I'll always teach him to be humble. Appreciate everything he has. The value of a dollar. Respect his elders," Rose said. "He's going to be a cool little dude. He is, man. Being around (Reese's) family. They're cool people. This whole experience is going to be great. He's going to have a great group around him."

Including a father.

"Growing up without my dad being around, it's definitely going to help me to raise him," Rose said. "If I just do everything the opposite of what my dad did, I think that will make things pretty easy."

Rose let out a laugh. He got it off his chest.

"I can joke about it now because I'm past that stage where it used to hurt," he said. "By having a kid, it's gone. I could take all that negative energy that I had and put it in a positive way."