These days, news of when exactly the familiar No. 1 jersey of Chicago Bulls superstar Derrick Rose will grace the United Center again has been hard to come by.
And while that continues to be the case, Bulls management have indicated this week that Chicago's star player is right on track in his road to recovery.
Bulls General Manager Gar Forman told reporters Monday that the franchise is taking things slowly with Rose, but they are pleased overall with his progress.
"We're not trying to be evasive," Forman said. "We just have stayed true to the process of taking things step by step, knowing we have to get him back to 100 percent. Once he's at 100 percent and cleared medically, he'll be ready to play. We're optimistic that he'll be back at some point this season."
"He's right on schedule with where we thought he would be," Forman said. "This next step is what he's doing on the floor. As soon as he has completed that step satisfactorily we'll move on to the next step, which will be full practices with full contact for a length of time."
However in terms of when the 2010-11 NBA MVP will return to the court, no date is set yet, Forman reiterating how difficult rehabbing a torn ACL ligament can be.
Rose tore his ACL on April 28 in the closing minutes of Game 1 of the first round of the NBA Playoffs.
"There is no end game in sight,'' Forman said regarding a target date for Rose's comeback. "The next step was to get him on the floor where he's participating in practice and contact activities. So we're not skipping steps. Once we feel comfortable with that and our doctors feel comfortable, then we'll go to the next step. It's not about us being evasive with our answers.
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