Rose is out again for the Bulls

Derrick Rose injury talk obviously has a shelf life with Tom Thibodeau.

It seemed to expire for the Bulls coach on Saturday.

Since Rose went down with sprains to both ankles over a week ago against Cleveland, he’s played in just one game – Milwaukee – and then missed the next two, including the game against Boston Saturday night.

Thibodeau had been very upfront with all things Rose for the last week, including ruling him out in his pregame sessions with the media, which he rarely ever does with injured players.

However, it finally seemed to be getting old for Thibodeau.

“Just out,’’ Thibodeau said of his point guard. “Not ready to go yet, see where he is [during Sunday’s off-day], go from there. We feel good about the other guys, everyone has to step up. Aaron [Brooks] and Kirk [Hinrich] are doing an excellent job of filling in.’’

Thibodeau was then asked if he and the organization have considered just sitting Rose for an extended period of time, rather than go through the daily drama of will he or won’t he, and again was very short with his responses.

“Just let him go through his process,’’ Thibodeau said. “The rest of the guys need to lock in and get ready for the games. As I’ve said, the one thing about when somebody is out, it gives an opportunity to others to show they can step up and get it done, and I like the way our team is playing.’’

The Bulls entered the Celtics game going 3-0 with Rose sidelined this season, and considering they’ve only had him for 13 regular-season games since the 2012 season, they are more than used to playing while he’s in street clothes.

As far as the idea of Thibodeau taking on the approach of resting guys for extended amounts of time to make sure they’re ready for the postseason, well, he’s a no thanks on that philosophy, and pointed out that coaching legend Phil Jackson was a heavy minutes guy with all of his championship teams.

“I don’t know if the science says it,’’ Thibodeau said, when asked about resting guys. “It seems like the more you see, like in baseball where they have the pitch-counts and all that, it seems like there are more injuries now than there ever was. I know like in football they’ve restricted the contact, and it seems like there are more injuries now in football. So I don’t think there is any to tell until there is an extended study based on 20 years or so.

“You have to have a philosophy in what you believe in. There’s a school of thought that you have to prepare for the grind of a long season. When you study championship teams you see there’s that commitment to it. So when you see the way Phil [Jackson] coached, that’s the way he did it. It’s amazing when you look at all the guys he had play 82 games and the amount of minutes they played. There’s different ways to do it. I think you have to look at your team and where it is, and then you go from there.’’