Will D-Rose recover?

Flying back to Cleveland after a self-imposed exile, Derrick Rose had met with the Cavaliers’ medical staff and will start the process of rehabilitation of his injured ankle.

Officially rejoining the team, D-Rose left the organization sometime last month to evaluate his playing career, seriously considering retirement because of the assortment of injuries that he had, the latest which caused him to miss most of the season. He has only played a total of seven games, with a career-low average of 14 points per.

The Chicago Bulls’ number one draft pick in 2008 and who subsequently won the Rookie of the Year honors, D-Rose had battled various leg injury issues since winning the league MVP in 2011, the youngest player to do so at 22-years old, averaging 25 points and almost 8 assists per game.

The 3-time NBA All Star’s destiny with injury started the following year when he tore his left ACL during the 2012 playoffs, had it surgically repaired and did not play the whole of the 20122013 season. He returned healthy the next season but 10 games later, injured his right knee meniscus and missed the rest of the 2013-2014 wars. In his last two seasons with Chicago, he only played a total of 117 games.

An athletic 6-3 point guard, D-Rose makes his living mainly as a slasher, breaking down opponent’s defenses to score or drop an assist. He had his best seven years with the Bulls with combined averages of 19 points and 6 assists per game.

He was traded to the New York Knicks in 2016, played in 64 games with an 18ppg clip. Then the Cleveland tour of duty.

As of this writing, the Cavs are on a 12-game roll after an uneasy 5-7 start. They defeated the Bulls, currently the NBA’s worst team. Cleveland are a win away from tying their franchise-best which they

set on March of 2009 and tied it on February of 2011.

With LeBron James leading the charge, Cleveland is breathing on Boston’s neck for the Eastern Conference’s best team.

Isaiah Thomas is still to see his first game as a Cav and Jose Calderon starts at the point but it is LeBron who’s directing the flow of the game. Dwayne Wade comes from the bench and he had been a solid contributor. Obviously, he’s adjusted and is comfortable with his back-up role.

The win over Chicago the other day had superstars DWade, LeBron and Kevin Love combining for 71 of the 113 winning points. The past week had D-Wade averaging 17 points, 4 assists and a steal in almost 25 minutes per outing.

Cleveland had been doing well without D-Rose and IT4. Adjustments will have to be made when both recovers from their respective health issues. I see some losing streaks and a few grumblings from their resident diva when both report for active duty as there will be changes on the lineup to accommodate them who are both ball dominant players.

Maybe its Boston’s time to shine this season.