Report: Cavs to keep Rose on minutes restriction all season

Derrick Rose will likely continue to be the Cleveland Cavaliers' starting point guard as long as Isaiah Thomas is sidelined, but the Cavs plan to keep Rose on a minutes restriction all season, sources told ESPN's Dave McMenamin.

Rose has been capped at 31 minutes, and Cleveland will keep him in the 28-to-31 range moving forward, no matter how well he plays or how healthy he looks. Rose, who's missed 168 of a possible 403 games the past six years due to myriad injuries, is on board with the Cavs' cautious approach.

"Let me say, for one, I'm just happy to be a part of this team, part of something that I think is special," the former league MVP told McMenamin. "A minute restriction, there's nothing I can do about that. But with me having all these injuries in my past, I'm kind of used to it. But whatever the team sees and the staff sees and they want me to do, that's what I'm going to cooperate with and just go about it the right way."

Rose has already sat out four games this year due to an ankle injury, and he says the ankle "still isn't there yet." He and the team are taking the long view, hoping to have him play deep into the playoffs.

"Knowing that I never played in June, just trying to be cautious with everything around the board," Rose said.

When Thomas is ready to return, Rose will almost certainly be relegated to backup duty, and the minute cap will be enacted organically. For now, though, the Cavs' dearth of healthy point guards has Rose at the high end of his playing-time window, averaging 28.6 minutes a game.

He's scored well when he's played - 20.1 points per 36 minutes on 50.8 percent shooting - but he's averaging more turnovers than assists, and his defense (like that of most of his teammates) has been borderline disastrous. The Cavs surrender nearly seven more points per 100 possessions when he's on the floor.