Derrick Rose knows a thing or two about devastating knee injuries and believes he knows what New Orleans Pelicans rookie Zion Williamson is going through.
Williamson has yet to play this season due to a torn meniscus. The Detroit Pistons guard offered advice to Williamson in an interview with NBC Sports Chicago on Wednesday and said the first thing he would do if he was the sensational Duke rookie is lose weight.
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“I mean, it’s a lot. First is your weight,” Rose said. “I remember playing for the USA teams and I think my second time we were going and seeing all these doctors and I was getting all these MRIs and I was still feeling pain in my knees certain days. It all came down to my weight.
“Nobody said nothing about my weight. I think I was around 212 or 214 [pounds] at the time. I was too heavy. It was the little things. I had to watch my diet. Once I watched my diet, I was fine. That was something I didn’t have to worry about.”
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Rose did acknowledge that Williamson was in a league of his own when it came to his size and his incredible leaping ability.
“But Zion is in his own lane. Just being that heavy, playing the way that he plays, he’s explosive. He’s an athlete I think nobody never saw before,” Rose said. "His path is going to be totally different than mine, you know what I mean? He has to, for one, learn the league."
Rose added: “I had a chance to learn the league, play through my mistakes and I got injured year 3 or 4. He got injured right away. So he has to learn his body right away, learn the league, learn what his skills are, work on his skills.”
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Williamson is set to return around Christmas. He was selected No. 1 overall by the Pelicans in June’s NBA Draft.