You say surgery to fix his back like his back was snapped in half and they had to rebuild his entire upper body. Like I said, it was a very small procedure. Do you have a point? Sure, but I think you're being unnecessarily pessimistic. My point is, this is our team right? And he is one of our best players right? So why do we as fans want to go around assuming the worst is going to happen to him and that just because of his age he is going to fail to come back to the Dunleavy of just a few months ago?

Also, I think the comparison to Rose holds up pretty damn well considering the severity/number of his injuries and surgeries, as compared to one tiny surgery. Rose has been cut up like a damn Turkey on Thanksgiving, yet I don't see a single person saying a word about him possibly not starting.

And I'm glad that you brought up Jo. Jo would be the false equivalency to me, even though you are right the injuries/ages are closer, Jo's position requires an extremely physical playing style, slamming into players and fighting his way through every single possession. Dunleavy plays near the three point line and this does not require him to get his ass beat on every trip down the floor. Ray Allen comes to mind...he seems to have lasted a while?

I'm done arguing about it. If you want to choose to be another poster on here who makes negative comments about a player you shouldn't be, then go right ahead. When Dunleavy comes back and is a key player in our success later in the season, I won't have to say I told you so. But hey maybe you're right, but if you are this team is going to suffer. They don't call him Dun-leave-me-open for nothing and he's also one of the most hard-nosed defenders that we've got. So let's all hope you're wrong, while I'll admit what you're saying is in the realm of possibility. Maybe you don't see how detrimental that would actually be to the Bulls, do you remember our slump when he was out periodically last year? And then when he came back, boom we're good again. I'm not saying he's the whole team, but when you are as undeveloped as we are, veteran leadership is a must. I certainly wouldn't be going around talking about him likely not coming back to form as a fan of this team.