It was 2008 when the Chicago Bulls selected the number one pick in the draftDerrick Rose, the city’s prodigal son and its new NBA messiah, had been waiting for the next Michael Jordan for a decade, mired in irrelevance since the number 23’s sixth and definitive title in 1998. The American point guard, who at 35 years of age has just announced his retirement from professional basketball after 16 seasons in the elite, practically fell out of the blue. With many ups and downs, and unable to complete his mission due to injuries, the player leaves the sport through the back door.
“You believed in me through the ups and downs, being my constant when everything else seemed uncertain,” Rose wrote in a heartfelt farewell letter to fans published in the Chicago TribuneThe player also signed five other letters to thank the fans of the other franchises he played for. “You were by my side even when the world seemed to be against me, unconditionally, waiting for me to lift you up,” he thanks his fellow citizens. Although the titles did not return to Chicago, the excitement that his emergence in the NBA aroused turned the player into a real sensation from his rookie season.
Rose won the award for rookie of the year in 2009 and then went on to have three seasons as an All Star, reaching the top of the American league in 2011, when he was chosen as the youngest MVP in the history of the competition. With averages of 25 points, 4.1 rebounds and 7.7 assists that season, he took home the highest individual distinction in the NBA at the age of 22. Jordan, in his day, did it at 25, like LeBron James. It was the Cleveland Cavaliers of the Kingprecisely those who eliminated his Bulls in the Eastern Conference Finals of that year, truncating a 62-win season that they have not emulated since.
On the 10th anniversary of the franchise’s first title in 1991, Jordan blessed the project led by his heir to the delight of the United Center. “You are on the verge of many more titles, if you see this team today… don’t be surprised by another six,” he said. With the 1.90 meters of height and the explosive and spectacular game of their leader, with great ability to dribble, penetrate and dunk the rim, the life of the Bulls and Rose seemed to be a bed of roses. Until everything went wrong, in a game against the Sixers, in April 2012.
A torn anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee was the start of an ordeal that took away all his physical power on the court. After a long recovery, he tore his meniscus 10 games into the game in November 2013. Another season and a half on the sidelines and a diminished return to the court, unable to replicate his past successes beyond the gold medal at the 2014 World Cup in Spain, where he repeated the medal he won in Turkey 2010. In his last stage in Chicago he coincided with Pau Gasol for two seasons, but the love affair with the city faded away due to clashes with the franchise’s management. He ended up with a New York Knicks team that was in the midst of reconstruction, with Phil Jackson at the head of the offices, but the project at Madison Square Garden did not come to fruition either.
From then on, Rose was a globetrotter without settling into any team, again dogged by injuries and a clear lack of rhythm to be among the best in the elite. His star gradually faded until he became a veteran figure and mentor to young players, rather than an athlete capable of producing on the court. In his last season with the Memphis Grizzlies, who released him from his contract a few days ago at his request, he was barely able to play 24 games. In the city of Tennessee, the point guard had forged his youth legend by leading the Tigers, the city’s university team, to the final of the university league.
Rose’s retirement also leaves some shadows on his resume. That achievement during his formative years was tarnished in 2021, when an NCAA committee disqualified his team’s 38 victories because one player in the group — he alone fit the description — had cheated to pass the SAT. In his eighth and final season in Chicago, the point guard faced charges of sexual abuse against a former partner, although a jury in Los Angeles ultimately dismissed the complaint.
“You have had a basketball in your hands since you were two years old,” wrote Brenda Rose, his mother, accompanying her son’s farewell text. “As a young boy from Englewood, you fulfilled your dream of entering the NBA. Now you leave as a mature man with a beautiful family. You have always loved basketball, and God has a new plan for you,” she concluded.
