Bulls' Rose to miss 8-12 months

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CHICAGO, May 15 (UPI) -- Chicago Bulls all-star guard Derrick Rose could be out as long a year following surgery to repair a torn knee ligament, the team's doctor said Tuesday.

Bulls team physician Brian Cole said last year's NBA MVP will be out 8-to-12 months after having the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee repaired.

That would mean Rose will miss at least part of the 2012-13 season.

"He really has to meet certain objective parameters that we progress him through," Cole said in Chicago. "It's really a series of progressions, very knee-focused initially, which is what we're doing now. We spread out from there, doing entire body conditioning, performance training and so forth."

The top-seeded Bulls sorely missed the 23-year-old following his injury at the end of their Game 1 Eastern Conference quarterfinals loss to Philadelphia. Chicago went on to lose the series 4-2.

Rose struggled with other injuries during the lockout-shortened regular season. He missed 27 of the 66 games due back spasms and a pulled groin.

He averaged 21.8 points and 7.9 assists per game when he did play.