CHICAGO -- Driving to the United Center on Tuesday, Stacey King knew exactly what his role would be for Tuesday's Chicago Bulls-New York Knicks game.

"I've gotta be Dr. Phil tonight," joked the former Bull who now works as the team's color commentator. "I've been hearing it all day, 'Tell me it's not true.' I've gotten 100 tweets already. I have to tell everybody to come off the ledge."

Derrick Rose is likely to spend Tuesday's game against the Knicks on the sidelines. AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki

He was referring, of course, to Derrick Rose and his latest injury, a sprained ankle sustained during the team's loss in New York on Sunday, the same day the NBA's reigning MVP returned from a groin injury that had kept him sidelined for 12 games. Before that, Rose had missed 10 games with toe and back injuries after missing just one game last season.

But King was staying calm.

"I never panic, because I played and I know how guys are and I know Derrick," he said.

King was not being the resident house organ.

While Bulls fans were taking on message boards and air waves in fear not just of Rose's condition for this postseason but for the remainder of the 23-year-old's career, King was a voice of reason.

"The way I look at it is it's a freak occurrence," he said. "A lot of it is just bad luck."

The analysis is the easy part.

"A lot of it has to do with the short, condensed season," King said of the 66-game, post-lockout schedule. "It's not just a Chicago situation, it's a league-wide situation. I know from a fan's perspective, they're watching games every night so when they don't see a superstar out there, they tend to overreact. They're not used to Derrick missing games so they're hitting the panic button."

But to start questioning Rose's durability, his game or his future is indeed premature and probably unreasonable. One comment, in particular, annoyed King more than most.

"I heard, '[Rose] is going to break down like Allen Iverson, ya, ya, ya,' " he said. "Well, they might have similarities in their game in that Derrick is always attacking, but look at their bodies. Derrick is built like a running back. Allen was more like a quarterback. Allen is 165 pounds soaking wet. Derrick is a solid kid. He plays physical but he's very resilient. He takes a hard hit."

Some would argue that he hasn't taken it very well this season.

"If he's even out there, it tells you he's hurting," King continued. "I watched him warm up weeks before and he couldn't jog a straight line. I'm around him all the time and he wants to be out there but his body won't let him."

Not exactly the reassuring words most Bulls fans would want to hear, but King's point was that Rose is far from fragile. He does play with pain. And if he had more time in between games to recover, we wouldn't be having this discussion.