Frrrommmm Chicago!
News last week of Derrick Rose’s retirement from the National Basketball Association brought many Chicagoans back to those exciting years beginning in 2008 when the Bulls improbably won the right to take hometown star Rose from the first pick in the draft, to his MVP season and finally to his agonizing 2012 knee injury. Throughout that pre-injury period, Bulls fans thrilled when the United Center introductions would identify Rose by his hometown rather than his college, which is customary.
In terms of local sports legends, Rose joins the Bears’ Dick Butkus as the only players with the talent to be in the conversation for the best ever at their positions and whose prime years were shortened by brutal injuries. Butkus grew up on the South Side when there still were factory jobs and a robust middle class in that part of the city. Englewood native Rose grew up on the same side of town in an era when poverty and violence were massive hurdles to overcome.
Overcome them he did. Rose took the league by storm, winning Rookie of the Year in 2009 and MVP two years later, when the Bulls lost to LeBron James’ Miami Heat in the Eastern Conference finals.
Neither Butkus nor Rose ever forgot their Chicago roots. They carried them as badges of honor. That’s partly why Rose, who it’s hard to believe played in Chicago for just seven of his 16 seasons, will be remembered first as a Bull — and a Chicagoan.
Rose always will be a legendary “what if” for NBA fans, not just in Chicago but throughout the world. No one of Rose’s modest height in NBA history played the point guard position with his combination of force, speed and leaping ability.
To Rose’s great credit, he returned from multiple knee injuries for many seasons as a productive and valuable player. But what had made his game elite was gone; the skill was there, the explosiveness was not.
Outside of his supernova Chicago years, Rose’s most memorable game was the turn-back-the-clock affair in 2018 when he wore a Minnesota Timberwolves jersey and dropped a career-high 50 points on the Utah Jazz from outside, inside and everywhere in between. Many NBA diehards choked up, seeing this unexpected treat on Halloween night. Rose himself let the tears flow freely after the game. For one night, the magic was back.
In the end, playing 16 years after the multiple knee injuries Rose endured was as much an achievement as those jaw-dropping plays in the early seasons. Rose displayed true South Side grit. Only someone who goes through it can understand the work and pain endured in multiple rehabs.
Rose never won a championship, just like Butkus, whom this page celebrated after his death nearly a year ago. But the two will never be forgotten simply because of the special way they played.
Chicago is proud to call Derrick Rose its own.
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