After the Michael Jordan era in the 1990′,s Chicago hoops turned very sour. The Bulls were the ultimate disgrace and a bottom feeder in the NBA for several years. To this day after the Jordan retired, the Bulls had a few moments of glory, but mostly black clouds have lingered up above the United Center. Before the 2008-09 season, the Bulls found some luck in the basketball world getting the lottery number one pick as the ball bounced their way. The Bulls’ chances to get the number one pick were very slim. The Bulls used that number one pick on local Chicago kid Derrick Rose, who played hoops at Simeon High School and was one best basketball players in the city and the state. Rose played his college ball out of Memphis University and he was looking to be the savior of Bulls basketball. It started out with a bang but ended up as what if, as that is the Chicago way in this city’s sports landscape. The smell of roses led to a wilted flower in need of water as he had to go elsewhere for that. Many thought his career was done but he survived although he was never the same player. Had moments of the old Derrick Rose. Some say he is a future Hall of Famer. Did he do enough on the court to get selected to that prestigious honor?

Derrick Rose, obviously drafted by his home team the Bulls, ended his career in the town he played his college ball in – the Memphis Grizzlies. Rose would play 15 seasons in the NBA with six different teams and some of those years he played for more than one team. Rose played seven seasons in Chicago. He would suit up for the Knicks for 4 seasons, Pistons 2 seasons, Timber wolves 2 seasons, 1 season with Cavaliers, and the Grizzlies. Rose came into the league like gang busters as he was quick and could beat you to the lane. He had a sniper shot that could hit from anywhere. He could dazzle you with a nice feed to any one of his teammates on the floor for an easy bucket. His first season in a Bulls uniform he was Rookie of the Year and awarded a spot on the All Rookie NBA team in 2008-09 season. In his third season, the 2010-11 season was magical as the Bulls had the best record in the league at 62-20 and almost made you forget about Michael Jordan. Just for a second. This Rose-led Bulls team stormed themselves all the way to the Eastern Conference finals and fell victim to that dream team of the Miami Heat. If you hate Lebron James with his decision to take his talents to South Beach where he assembled the big three which included Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosch. The Heat dispatched the Bulls in 5 games. What if Lebron stayed in Cleveland? Could the Bulls have gotten by him and that Cavaliers team he abandoned or perhaps another team? That was the year when Rose was the youngest ever player to win an MVP award in the NBA at 22 years of age. He made the All-NBA team as well in that 2010-2011 season.

Then the Bulls the following season would once again be playoff bound in the 2011-2012 season. They opened up against the Philadelphia 76ers in the first round. They blame head coach Tom Thibodeau for having Derrick Rose in the game as the Bulls were up by double digit points. Rose would injure his left knee as he tore his ACL. You could add another “What If” to this situation. Rose would miss the entire 2012-2013 season to recover. Many fans and the Bulls front office blamed Thibodeau, whose philosophy as a coach is when you have a lead keep your foot on the gas pedal. If Rose blamed his coach for the injury, why then did he play for him years later in New York and Minnesota. Rose had that explosiveness to the net which is a blessing but a curse for some players as the grind on the knees can easily snap that ACL. It could happen any given day at any given time. Rose would recover but was not the same player as he once was. Unfortunately that ACL in his left knee was only the beginning for his issues on his basketball legs. In 2013, Rose had a pair of tears to his meniscus in his right knee. In 2015 another tear to the meniscus, this time back to his left knee. Rose definitely lost more than a few steps from being that MVP at the age of 22.

You have to respect Derrick Rose to continue to overcome these injuries and still play a significant role for an NBA team. Rose had to change his game no doubt. He would become a weapon with his below the rim style over making the splashy dunk as he did not have that explosiveness due to the knee issues. He played a different role coming off the bench mostly, Teams would look from him as a quick spark. On October 31st of 2018 in Minnesota, wearing a Timber Wolves uniform Rose scored 50 points against the Utah Jazz. In 2020-2021 he was important to the Knicks team playing solid basketball off the bench as the 6th man which he almost won that award. Who was Rose playing for in 2020-2021? His old coach from the Bulls, good ole Tom Thibodeau who the Bulls front office marched out of town back in the days.

At the end, Derrick Rose averaged 17.4 points per game in the NBA. Rose averaged 3.2 rebounds per game while dishing out at least 5.2 assists per game. Those are not bad numbers. Rose is only 36 years old. In basketball years are like dog years so his frame is much older as the work to get into shape to play in the NBA have to be excruciating at that age. Rose would end up being 3 x all-star. His numbers don’t jump off the page at you but the Basketball Hall of Fame have guys with less credentials than Rose had. I was not a fan of Rose when on one media day right before one of those NBA seasons was about to start, he was talking about his contract instead of giving insight to the reporters on how the Bulls were going to do that particular season. When athletes cry they need more money to feed the family or give to their entourage, it just makes people like Johnny Lunch Pail spit out venomous words against these primadonnas making millions. Of course you can defend Rose and others mouthing off like that at a young age. Young and stupid… we have all been there. Overall my opinion is that Rose is worthy of the Basketball Hall of Fame. I like his work ethic to overcome those injuries. I don’t think he did enough in his entire career to get that honor. I think if he had two more seasons healthier under his belt before the first major knee surgery, then you can put him in. If I was the Bulls, I would not retire his number. Not sure if the Bulls have their own Hall of Fame of sorts like many franchises do. Definitely they should have a spot for a Chicago kid playing for the home crowd winning an MVP award. Derrick Rose still brings the Chicago Bulls fans the best memories of any other small amount of them we have after the Michael Jordan era. What if the Rose did not wilt in that playoff game versus the 76ers? Maybe the Bulls could have had another title. Let’s not forget about the people behind the scenes. Dumb, Dumber, Dumbest – the owner and the front office at the time. The Chicago’s sports landscape has never had the sharpest tools in the shed when it comes to the owners and their henchmen.