Yahoo Sports senior NBA reporter Vincent Goodwill reflects on the former MVP and Rookie of the Year’s career as the point guard retired after 15 seasons in the NBA.
Video Transcript
Derrick Rose may never make the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame.
He may be the one MVP who won’t have that distinction.
He may not have his jersey immediately retired by the Chicago Bulls, the franchise in which he won MVP in 2011.
But we’ll remember all the feelings.
We’ll remember the athleticism.
We’ll remember the plays.
We’ll remember the audacity that he had when he told us, why not me?
Why can’t I win MVP?
And he went out and did it and he had the temerity to go against lebron and Dwayne and Chris Bosh and the entire Miami Heat team and almost do it on his own.
Of course, there’s so many confusing things about Derrick Rose ways that he was snake bitten with his knee injuries that halted his role to the Hall of Fame.
Six teams that he played for.
He almost retired when he was playing with the Cleveland Cavaliers when he was a part of lebron james’ team as opposed to competing against him.
And then there was the 50 point game with the Minnesota Timberwolves in which he cried on the floor.
After, of course, there were some of the ugly things, some of the things that were confusing, not just refusing to play so to speak because his body wasn’t ready but the rape allegations that made many change their opinion of someone that they thought was truly wholesome.
It didn’t completely taint his image, but he changed his game when his body failed him.
He changed into a lower to the ground midrange shooter, a veteran player who many young players could actually look up to and depend on like John Morant in Memphis, John Morant is the embodiment of everything.
Derrick Rose should have been, had his career played out to full health.
You could actually make the argument that Derrick Rose’s 2011 MVP was more valid than Russell Westbrook’s 2017 MVP in which he averaged a triple double.
You can always say that Derrick Rose is changing of his career with the way that he was able to morph into to a different player was his greatest accomplishment even beyond the MVP.
And the fact that he was able to retire quietly and do it with six full page ads in the franchises that he played for, speaks to his basketball character and speaks to the way that he’ll be fondly remembered as time moves on.