Column: The way Derrick Rose resonated with everyone made him a Hall of Famer in Chicago's heart
CHICAGO - Everyone has their favorite Derrick Rose moment.
I can remember mine. Sitting in a musky basement my junior year at Bradley University, Rose took an inbound pass, dribbled twice and then pulled up over Iman Shumpert for his iconic buzzer-beating 3-pointer that lifted the Chicago Bulls to a 2-1 lead over LeBron James' Cavaliers.
Witnessing one of the best Bulls moments in the post-Jordan era still gives me chills.
That's mine. I'm sure you can recall yours.
Those moments were expected of Rose. He delivered. The immense pressure was squarely on his shoulders as Chicago's basketball prodigy. He could have solely taken that fact and made a victory lap at the United Center on Saturday. He didn't.
"Everybody that was a part of the story, the journey, the good, the bad, the ugly." Rose said. "I understand coming from Chicago that it's tough love. It's a lot of tough love. You could forget about the love sometimes and just give toughness. Coming back, me being raised off of that tough love, I just wanted to show the love part. There's toughness, too, but you don't have to be tough all the time. It's understanding and realizing why I'm here."
The reason Chicago loves Rose so vividly is that Chicago connected to him in multiple ways. It's one thing to see Chicago's sports legends like Jordan, Scottie Pippin, Walter Payton, Mike Singletary, Ryne Sanberg, Frank Thomas, Ernie Banks, Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews, but Chicagoans could claim Rose like they couldn't any of the others.
Rose had a way of resonating with everyone. It's why he's a Hall of Famer in our hearts, even if his Naismith Memorial candidacy is still up for debate.
There was simply no one else we wanted to see succeed more than Derrick Rose because we could hold him close differently than others because of how he became a star, and when.
Rose created his stardom in Chicago. He was on college coaches' radars as a freshman at Simeon Career Academy in 2003. Basketball fans gravitated toward him with every grainy hoopmixtape we could find with his high school highlights, but
"For what he means to the city, the Bulls, the entire NBA. I had the opportunity to coach against him, so I know how difficult that is," Thibodeau said. "I had the good fortune to coach him. You see in looking in the eyes of the opponent, when they had to guard him you could see the fear and the respect."
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Why Chicago Bulls' legend Derrick Rose wants Derrick Rose Night to be about 'celebrating everyone'
Saturday was a chance for Derrick Rose to celebrate his basketball career. That's also why he decided to shift the focus from himself, to everyone who was a character in his journey.
As a player, Rose commanded respect with his speed, agility and skill.
When Rose came back home with a Bulls' jersey on, Chicago was still fixated on the Michael Jordan era. Bulls basketball was, at best, mediocre.
The Ben Gordon-Luol Deng-Kirk Heinrich bunch never separated the modern-day Bulls from the 90s Bulls. Rose finally provided that separation. Bulls fans no longer had to live in the last decade of basketball. He delivered them to contention. If it weren't for LeBron James' Miami Heat he might have won a championship, too. The Rose-Carlos Boozer-Luol Deng-Joakim Noah Bulls won 62 games in the same year we got the Big Three of James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh.
That era was the last time the Bulls were must-watch TV, and it was because Rose gave Chicago something to believe in at a time when the city was reveling in sports success.
In the years since Jordan retired in 1998, the Cubs found success in 2003, 2007 and 2008, the Chicago Sky became a franchise in Chicago in 2006, the Bears made a Super Bowl in the 2006 season and the White Sox won a World Series in 2005. The Bulls never truly had a season where they broke away from that MJ-sized shadow, which also feels like an impossible task.
Rose broke onto the scene in 2008 and immediately took the defending NBA Champion Boston Celtics with Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, Rajon Rondo and Ray Allen to seven games in his rookie season. Rose gave us a reason to move past the Jordan era when he won the MVP in 2011, which is also when the Bears were contending for a Super Bowl and the Blackhawks were in the middle of their Stanley Cup dynasty.
To me, Rose was the biggest icon of that time. He shines brighter in my memory as an individual even more than Kane and Toews' stardom, and the now-Hall of Famer Julius Peppers, Jay Cutler and Matt Forte.
My heart tells me it's because we got a chance to watch Rose grow up, where he showed us he had an understanding of the bigger picture.
CHICAGO, ILLINOIS - JANUARY 04: Former Chicago Bulls star Derrick Rose speaks to the audience during a half-time celebration for Derrick Rose Night at the United Center on January 4, 2025 in Chicago, Illinois. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledge
Those who covered him in Chicago have their own personal stories. Those who watched them might have personal stories of their own. But, those who watched from afar had someone they could look up to and connect with in a way they couldn't with Jordan. Chicago didn't get to watch Jordan grow up. Rose became great in Chicago's own backyard.
Derrick didn't just inspire fans around Chicago in a sports sense. He showed a greater understanding of life in general in the way he wore No. 25 to honor Ben Wilson's legacy. Wilson was the best high school player in the nation in 1984 when he was murdered by a gang member during his senior year. Other Simeon stars have worn No. 25 too, and that was a testament to how he understood the impact basketball can have on this city. Wearing 25 then meant he had to carry responsibilities on and off the court.
"Playing here and wearing that number came with a lot of responsibilities," Rose said in 2009 of wearing No. 25 at Simeon. "You’ve got to go out there and play hard when everybody is coming at you. You’re on the court almost every possession."
He understood that basketball was bigger than himself. It's why his former head coach and current Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau said Rose was probably the "most beloved player in the league," which was further confirmed by fans and former teammates that celebrated into the night at the United Center.
Thibs called Rose a Hall of Fame player. I'm too biased to say otherwise. You can ask "What if we never got hurt," but the hall honors great players for their entire careers and not what could've been. Rose doesn't think about the latter, so neither should we.
Instead, Saturday was an invitation to remember the anticipation we felt when Rose touched a basketball. It's why I'll remember his game-winner against Cleveland, because it proved the devastation from his injuries would never dampen my anticipation of one of the greatest icons Chicago has ever seen.
Joakim Noah said it best. Whether Rose ends up a Hall of Famer or not is out of our hands. It doesn't change how Rose is a Hall of Famer in Chicago's heart.
"You always put the city on your back and you carried that with you," Noah said. "You’re not only the MVP, you’re the people’s champ. You’re the people’s champ."