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Welcome to the NBA and the Bulls Doug McDermott, can you spell “meniscus tear?”

“When we got the MRI, I was definitely shocked,” the Bulls rookie said before Friday’s game in Memphis as he was going to do some shooting. “But then Dr. (Brian) Cole explained to me this is a very minor knee issue and very easy to come back from and I’ll be feeling…he said I’ll be wanting to play within a week. I just have to listen to him and the trainers and not rush it. There’s really no point in it, rushing now for me.”

And so for the second season in a row, the Bulls returned from their Western Conference “circus” trip not laughing as there was another surgery for a meniscus tear, though McDermott’s was considerably less serious than Derrick Rose’s from 2013. McDermott had surgery last Saturday. His prognosis was listed as four to six weeks, but he said more three to six, and there’s little chance he’d be out the maximum six weeks.

The surprise, though, was McDermott said he could not recall doing anything to cause the injury, that he merely noticed swelling returning home after the 15 days on the road, and that he’d never before missed a basketball game, not in high school or four years of college.

“It was a little scary because it was a big surprise to me,” said McDermott. ”Because I didn’t recall doing it in any games. It just was huge when we landed from that West Coast trip. It wasn’t feeling right, so I thought I had to do something about it because it wasn’t getting any better. It was very swollen.

“We had an off day,” said McDermott. “So I went in and did a workout. I couldn’t do a whole lot, jumping—I know I can’t jump anyway—I couldn’t do a lot. It just hurt running around. Then after that, went to the trainers. They were shocked like I was.

“I hadn’t seen (any problems with the right knee) before,” McDermott added. “In summer league a little bit, but I just iced it; wasn’t anything serious. It was one of those deals, ‘Oh, my knee is kind of hurting me,’ threw ice on it and it felt better the next day. I think over the wear and tear of the summer, the draft process and then summer league and going into everything kind of took a toll on me. Thankfully it’s just a small meniscus tear. They were able to remove it and not get it repaired or anything, so it worked out.”

McDermott remained out Friday along with Rose, who was back in Chicago ill, and Taj Gibson with his sprained ankle.

“This year, I’ve never seen anything like it,” said Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau. “You go with the guys you have. Get out there and get it done. That’s the way we have to operate.”

Same for McDermott, who begins his lonely task of recovery, which is fairly common around the Bulls these days.

“Walking fine, biking, I can shoot now,” said McDermott. “I can’t do a whole lot of running; I have stitches in it. But once I get those out I can do the underwater and treadmill and start moving.

“It has been tough,” McDermott added. “Obviously being a rookie in general before the injury you are trying to learn and be perfect out there. It sucks having an injury
For me, I’m trying to take it as a positive, settle down and take a deep breath and learn from Jimmy (Butler) and Mike (Dunleavy) and watch them play and watch Thibs and how everyone reacts on the floor. I think it will be a good thing to watch practice every day and get better.

“I had no idea about this injury at all,” McDermott said. “I talked to people who have had it; even a couple of people reached out to me, former guys I played with; they had the same issue and said they were ready to go in two weeks. I know (Kyle) Korver was one of them. He said that’s the only thing he had and that knee is actually better than the other one now

“(I had) never missed a game; the first game I missed was summer league because I had a little ankle problem,” said McDermott. “So it’s pretty depressing. If I was on crutches I wouldn’t travel, but since I’m walking around fine I’d rather be with our training staff. I came from being a really good college player, playing 40 minutes a game, so it’s tough. But it’s an adjustment, part of being on a really good team. I understand that. It’s tough for me and some of the other guys, but we have to realize we are fighting for a championship and this will be good in the long run for me. Three (for a return) might be too soon because they don’t want to rush into it. That will be safe. Six is a stretch; I don’t think it will last that long.”