10 Things Paul George Should Learn/Consider From Derrick Rose's Recovery Process

Image via Complex Original

The ad execs who work for Adidas did their best to make lemonade when life threw them a curveball (or whatever the saying is) and built a marketing campaign around Derrick Rose's impending return for the 2013-14 season. It was going to be glorious. It was going to be the story of the season. It was going to end with a seventh title banner in the rafters of the United Center. Unfortunately, sometimes the same guy gets a second injury that tests the patience of a fan base. That's sports. And when Derrick Rose's "return" lasted all of 10 games the city of Chicago got the ultimate blue balling, while Adidas was stuck with a clunker of a theme after months of offseason hype.

Now you'd think that shoe companies would learn from that, but Nike proved imitation stealing is the sincerest form of flattery. When Nike ends their Paul George comeback ad with "the worst has happened" they seem to think that leg injuries are like chickenpox—you only get them once. But as we've already learned, real life doesn't help you out with ad campaigns. That's the problem. Now if it's only a tweet and an ad campaign to support their guy (which we concede is entirely possible) then that's great. After all, George is still on contract, you might as well get something out of him. But if we have to sit through the same ad over and over only to have it fizzle out before December then we might scoff at Nike (while feeling bad for George) for failing to learn from the pitfalls of an injury-based promotion.

We make this type of declarative statement knowing precisely dick about mental health. But what we're trying to say is that Derrick Rose was practicing with full contact in January of 2013 and he was physically cleared by team doctors in March. Even so, he sat through their first round series against the Nets that went the full seven games. After that he sat out Chicago's 5-game Conference Semifinal series against the Heat. That series lasted approximately one game longer than most experts had it going. Derrick's decision brought scorn from local fans and media.

The second round exit led to a long offseason that allowed Rose's mental health to catch up with his physical health. All that wait led to another season-ending injury less than a month into the new campaign. We're not saying he has to heal with the powers of Wolverine Adrian Peterson, but an additional injury in November 2013 should show him that mentally resting meant nothing. When an injury is healed, it's healed and just as you overcome your fear of tigers by jumping in a tiger cage you heal your fear of injury by getting back out there and playing. And if you get hurt again, well, that was the worst case scenario anyway.

An NFL season is a sprint. Baseball is too reliant upon inconsistent hitting/pitching. But basketball? We could give you a dozen of the 16 teams going to the 2014-15 postseason right now. One of them? The Pacers.

We know hindsight is 20/20 but for Derrick Rose to be injured in November only added insult to injury seeing as how the Bulls can (and did) make the playoffs without him but can't (and didn't) win in the playoffs without him. The only goal for teams with star players should be to make sure they get those guys are healthy for the postseason. Take advantage of the fact that a majority of the league is still playing in late April. To go all-out in an NBA season that is 20-30 games too long doesn't really make any sense unless getting that one extra home game is really that important to you.

At 24 years of age those legs are just getting introductory miles put onto them. But the good (if there is a good) and bad of having it happen at this stage of your career is that there's no pressure to sprint back onto the court, regardless of how big people may think the Pacers' window is. Pushing too quickly on unhealed legs could have you back on the rehab shelf or worse. There are still many, many more years left to lose to LeBron in the postseason so listen to the team doctors. They allegedly learned a thing or two in med school.

You know how there are memes of Jesus coming down from a cloud with the text "Will still come back before Derrick Rose"? Yeah, well, don't worry about that. You just do you because the internet wasn't being too kind to you anyway.

Rose admitted that the first time he was recovering from the torn ACL that it felt more like work than anything. "When I came back last fall, I felt like it was a job," Rose said. "I wasn't smiling, I wasn't enjoying the game, I was trying not to mess up, and with me I usually just go out there and play. Me playing at least is something good, but at the time it was just too much going on, and I think that was just a dark side for me. Just a dark period of time." 

George needs to actively make sure this mentality doesn't take a toll on him. Obviously, there are certain requirements and steps he'll have to follow, but he should try to keep the workouts and rehab fresh and keep reminders that he's doing this for his own determination, not because he's trying to please everybody else. Does his team and city need him? Yes, but this is his injury, and he's the only person he should be worrying about. 

Injuries leave a person a lot of time for self-reflection and self-evaluation. For athletes, this can actually be really productive. Rose said he's watched more game tape than ever before in his life and carefully dissected what parts of his game most needed help. One of those faults was shooting, so he really focused on his jumper. George should do the same. He'll probably also come to realize that 42.4 percent from the floor isn't the greatest. 

George is in the chill zone right now. The injury still happened recently enough that everybody is still in get-well-soon-#prayforPG-OMG-that-video-was-so-awful mode. He's still the victim right now, which is exactly how it started for Rose. But a few months down the road, when he starts becoming more mobile, and when he starts performing basketball activities, people are going to start getting restless. The Pacers have no real shot at doing anything significant this season without George and Lance Stephenson, which is a similar position the Bulls were in without Rose. It's a recipe for impatience, and it was pretty clear that Bulls fans got sick and tired of waiting. And with impatience come the trolls. 

Rose isn't really into social media, but George is all over it, which only leaves more access to him and his path. It's already pretty apparent he's going to be active about sharing his process of recovery, so he just needs to be careful about his comeback. Who knows, maybe being more active with his fans will help quell the questioning, but generally, it seems better to stay under the radar. 

Which is where Reggie Rose comes in. Reggie Rose did anything but let Rose stay under the radar. His greatest screw up was when he "spoke for himself" and questioned Chicago's ability to build a team around Derrick. He then said that the Bulls inability to pull in new players would largely factor into Derrick's decision on when to return. This just put even more pressure on Derrick, made people question his decision-making even more, and injected doubt into the entire fanbase. George needs to make sure there's nobody around him who is going to try to take matters into his or her own hands and put him on blast. 

Rose did a really nice job, for the most part, of keeping blinders on throughout the past two years. He knew what he wanted to do, which was wait until he was ready, and he didn't let other break that resolve. He shouldn't have continuously left fans on the hook by saying that it was still a possibility he might comeback, but that's obviously much easier said than done. It's like when you know you're done with a relationship, but it's comfortable, and you know how much it's going to destroy that other person. The breakup might be put off for a while. 

Regardless of bad breakups, George should remember no injury is exactly the same, and no body is exactly the same. That means no body is going to react and deal with any injury the same, regardless of how similar the circumstances are. He should listen to his doctors, his physical therapists, and to his own body. 

"I know how special I am as a player." They're simple words from Derrick Rose, but they're extremely important to people who are coming back from an injury. Paul George can't lose sight of the path, a path that had people putting him in the ranks with the Top 10 players in the entire league, he was on prior to the injury. He's young, talented on both sides of the ball (a rarity these days), has a city that will rally with him, and oodles of potential. You've seen him play toe-to-toe with the best in the game. He needs to remember that if he's going to get through an injury like this.