I pause now, momentarily, as I attempt to phrase this in the most sane and reasonable way possible: Are they [expletive] insane????

Feb 11, 2013; Deerfield, IL, USA; Chicago Bulls point guard Derrick Rose shoots during a rehab session as he recovers from an ALC injury at the Berto Center. Mandatory Credit: Jerry Lai-USA TODAY Sports

Two things. First, the idea seems to be that by not putting any kind of artificial limitations on Rose upon his return, the Bulls believe he’ll be able to find his rhythm faster and be himself sooner. Per Kyler, their thought process goes something like this:

RT @bulls_jay: —> Ricky Rubio struggled with his minute limit, the Bulls don’t need to rush Rose back.

— Steve Kyler (@stevekylerNBA) March 11, 2013

Think about this for a second, because this is the single most ridiculous, convoluted piece of logic to come out of a front office that spent the last eight months pretending a hard cap they imposed on themselves appeared out of nowhere one night and they were powerless to stop it. Based on this tweet — and I have no real reason to believe Kyler isn’t being faithful to the front office’s position, here — the Bulls would tell you Ricky Rubio struggled after his return not because he tore his ACL and essentially had to learn how to play basketball again, but because his team imposed a minutes limit on him, which prevented him from playing his game … or something. I don’t know.

Second, leaving aside everything I just said, and leaving aside the fact that every. single. player. who has ever torn their ACL has come back on a minutes limit — or at least some basic restrictions in an effort to make sure they don’t hurt themselves again — let’s think about what happens in the absence of a minutes limit, since the decision is apparently up to Tom Thibodeau, and Tom Thibodeau alone.

RT @bulls_jay: —> How Derrick plays is up to the coach, but that’s going to be about Coach not some predefined limitation

— Steve Kyler (@stevekylerNBA) March 11, 2013

Suppose, in Rose’s first game back, the Bulls are playing the Denver Nuggets — a somewhat realistic assumption, as the Bulls play the Nuggets a week from today, and the team keeps hinting that Rose might be back within the next week or two. Suppose also the Bulls trail by three after three quarters and feel they have a real shot at winning, as Rose has 12 points and 5 assists in about 25 minutes and seems to be moving well.

Now, in the past, Thibs would likely opt to skip Rose’s traditional rest period early in the fourth and just let him play the whole quarter. And doing so in this instance would allow Thibs to avoid playing Nate Robinson. Why wouldn’t he do that? Thibs goes balls to the wall to win every game, which is why Joakim Noah and Luol Deng seem to play every minute of every game. What makes anyone think he would voluntarily decide not to play his best player if he can?

Under such a scenario, Rose would play about 37 minutes. That’s uncomfortably high for my taste. But apparently, the front office doesn’t care.

May God have mercy on our souls.

Feb 11, 2013; Deerfield, IL, USA; Chicago Bulls point guard Derrick Rose reacts during a rehab session as he recovers from an ACL injury at the Berto Center. Mandatory Credit: Jerry Lai-USA TODAY Sports

The bad news, of course, is that he’s still not going to be playing until he feels he’s completely ready, which is only bad news in the sense that he’ll be out longer. Ultimately, being as cautious as possible is probably the right decision. But more on that in a minute.

From the report:

Rose, who had surgery to repair a tear to the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee on May 12, has been videotaped dunking off each foot, but more casually than he would during a game. A source said that although he has been practicing and scrimmaging hard, he told the Bulls that until he feels “in his mind” he can confidently dunk off his left foot in a game situation, he is not 100 percent mentally ready to return to competition.

The team is not pressuring Rose, the source said, but the Bulls are confident he will return this season and are still hoping for a mid-March return, which would mark 10 months after his surgery. The Bulls play at Golden State on March 15.

The source said the team has been assured by Rose’s doctor that there is no more chance of the former MVP getting injured upon his return than anyone else and that the doctor told the Bulls that physically “he can play now.” Rose is now dealing with the psychological side of trusting his body.

There are a number of moving pieces in play, here. Both the Bulls organization and Adidas have direct, monetary reasons for wanting Rose back as soon as possible. Rose himself has every interest in making sure he is as close to perfect as he can possibly be before returning — both from the standpoint of prolonging his career and from wanting to be “DERRICK ROSE” again when he returns. Bulls fans, obviously, would like to see Rose play again.

There are concerns the Bulls organization leaked this info in an effort to put pressure on Rose to end what they presumably see as excessive rehab. I would think that’s probably not the case, but I lost any read I might have had on this organization a long time ago. If that was the intent, they’re a bunch of dicks and that’s that. It shouldn’t have any real impact on Rose himself.

Here’s what this comes down to: Only Derrick can make the decision to return to game action. If he’s ready, he’ll play. If he’s not, he won’t. Either way, the media, or the front office or the fans don’t have any say in the matter. It’s his knee, it’s his decision. I, personally, would like to see him back on the floor before the end of the season — both because I think real game action will help with his rehab and because I selfishly want to see him play again. But if he doesn’t return until next season because he’s just not ready, that’s his prerogative and we should support him.

I think Yahoo!’s Kelly Dwyer put it best:

Derrick Rose does not want to come back and float around to hit some nice jumpers and make a deft pass or 12. He wants to come back as DERRICK ROSE. This is the guy agreeing to dramatic shoe company advertisements hyping a triumphant return. A “12 points and five assists in a nice first game back from Rose …” does not a triumphant return make. He wants to cut. He wants to stuff. He wants to plant and pivot and have confidence and run the show again, as opposed to being part of it.

He wants to return at 110 percent. And if Derrick Rose believes he can hit that impossible number, then we should get behind that. That’s not fear. That’s ambition.

Derrick Rose has given us quite a lot, and now it’s our turn to give him some time.

So that’s that. Let’s continue to hope for a speedy recovery while supporting Rose as he does what he feels he needs to to make his return.

He’ll be back before we know it.