Knee surgeries have limited the injury-prone Rose to 100 games during the past four seasons. Tim Fuller-USA TODAY Sports
The Chicago Bulls waived guards Jake Anderson and Stefhon Hannah during training camp on Tuesday amid reports that point guard Derrick Rose might not be ready to play in the opener later this month.
Bulls coach Fred Hoiberg said Tuesday after practice that Rose “most likely” will not participate in any of the team’s eight preseason games and could sit out the first game of the regular season on Oct. 27 against the Cleveland Cavaliers unless he is deemed fully ready to play.
Rose was expected to be cleared for full basketball activity on Wednesday after undergoing surgery to repair a fractured left orbital bone that resulted from taking an elbow to the face during a practice collision on Sept. 29.
“They still want him to be a little bit careful just with the swelling, make sure that his vision is back to where it’s supposed to be, to where it was before he got hit, before they want him to get anything going on with his blood pressure spiking is how I understand it,” Hoiberg said.
“So he’s probably at least a week away from that happening to where he’s able to get out and work up a sweat, and then hopefully it’s full go from there to where we can get him out into some contact drills, get him back out there running our offense, and hopefully get him ready to play. So I think it’s still yet to be determined if we’re going to have him for the opener. But the good news is he’s progressing, he’s getting better. His vision is getting better and hopefully we’ll get him back soon.”
Knee surgeries have limited the injury-prone Rose to 100 games during the past four seasons.
Anderson and Hannah signed with the Bulls as free agents on Sept. 28. Their departures leave the Chicago roster at 17 players.
