It would have been nice if Bulls star Derrick Rose and Minnesota up-and-comer Ricky Rubio would have been able to sit and discuss the business of being point guards in the Association when they got together early Friday evening.

Instead, it was simply a meeting of the knees.

Rubio tore both his anterior cruciate ligament and lateral collateral ligament last March, and is still spending most of his time in street clothes, while Rose tore his left ACL in the first round of the playoffs against Philadelphia, and seems to be ahead of Rubio as far as a recovery timetable.

That was much of the talk between the two.

"It's tough,'' Rubio said. "It's a tough injury. You are like six, eight, nine months without playing your favorite sport. Sometimes it's just playing basketball where you forget about everything and you just enjoy it. I just wish him a healthy recovery.''

Rose has been shooting around since the summer, and shooting jumpshots since early September. Rubio is still about two weeks away from getting into the gym and shooting jumpers.

"Every player is different,'' Rubio added. "Every recovery is different. We don't have to look at somebody else to see when one can come back. You just take your time. But working hard to come back.''