CHICAGO — Derrick Rose’s No. 1 jersey will forever hang from the rafters at the United Center in Chicago. Rose, who was honored with a lavish postgame ceremony after the Bulls beat the Boston Celtics, 114-111, Saturday night, was emotional watching his jersey be placed alongside those of Bulls legends like Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen.
The Bulls pulled out all the stops in celebrating the city’s favorite son. Both Jordan and Pippen made videos honoring Rose, with Jordan saying in part, “Looking forward to coming to the United Center and seeing your jersey hanging up there with my jersey.”
The grandeur of the ceremony, and everything leading up to it, exemplified just how much the Bulls, NBA fans and players, and the city of Chicago appreciates Rose. It was the type of event that is usually reserved for those who go on to have championship-filled careers.
But that was not Rose’s journey. His wasn’t one littered with championships like Jordan and Pippen, he never even appeared in the NBA Finals. He was a three-time All Star (all with the Bulls), a Rookie of the Year winner in 2009 and remains the youngest MVP winner in league history at age 22. He traversed the league over 15 years, with stops in New York, Minnesota, Detroit, Cleveland and Memphis. Though if Rose had it his way, he probably would’ve retired with his hometown Bulls.
In his seven seasons with the Bulls, they never missed the playoffs, making it to the Eastern Conference finals once, and past the first round two other times. The grit and toughness Rose played with personified the spirit of Chicago. He grew up in Chicago’s south side neighborhood of Englewood, playing on the local courts and rising through the ranks as one of the nation’s top prospects. Though he never brought the city a championship, by the way he’s revered in Chicago you would’ve thought he had.
That’s not surprising, though. Rose embraced his city, and in return Chicago wrapped its arms around him. He was proud to be from Chicago, and in retirement has moved back to the city. Rose didn’t bring titles to Chicago like Jordan or Pippen, or end a 108-year drought like the 2016 Cubs. But he’s from Chicago, and that holds a different kind of weight than any championship trophy ever could.
“This journey was never about me,” Rose said. “Right from the jump, it was never about me. It was about creating a synergy that somehow people from the city could pull from, and somehow I was that beacon or that vessel for that from hoopin’. Now being 37 and looking at the totality of it, it was about everybody that found ways to come to my games. Somehow, we had some kind of vibration that connected. It all was meant to be.”
Saturday night’s festivities were filled with nostalgia. A countless number of Rose’s former teammates were on hand for the honor, including Joakim Noah, Luol Deng and Taj Gibson, all of whom gave speeches.
Former Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau gave an impassioned speech about his former player, and ended it by saying, “The next stop is the Hall of Fame, and there is no doubt about that.”
Every time Rose talked about his jersey retirement, including in his over 20-minute speech during the ceremony, he made it a point to say “This was never about me.” Instead, it was about his mother, Brenda, who sacrificed everything to put him in the position he is today. It was about his teammates who fought alongside him every night. His wife and kids, who keep him grounded. It was about the fans and the city who always stood by him.
In many ways, Rose’s jersey retirement served as a symbol. It closes the chapter for a man who is ready to move on from his own playing career to focus on becoming a businessman. It serves as a full circle moment a decade later after being traded from the only team he knew. It brings back to light the many highs and lows of his career. A career that many people wonder what would’ve happened had he never gotten injured. How high could he and the Bulls have climbed? Would Rose be mentioned amongst the greatest of all time had his body not failed him?
The 2012 ACL injury that forever altered the trajectory of Rose’s career is one he’s since made peace with. During his speech, Rose even showed the now infamous photo of him lying on the ground in the immediate aftermath of the injury. The picture got a visceral reaction from the crowd, but Rose explained why it was an important part of his journey.
“We had to do that together, and that’s only how I got from [that injury] to here,” Rose said. “You all and us being here together. I know a lot of people don’t like [Tom Thibodeau] because of [the injury]. Because they look at Thibs as ‘the injury.’ But I’m here to say f— that. Thibs is the first coach that made me feel special. … He felt like he loved the game more than me, which he don’t. Thibs, you may have [coached] at Harvard, you may have done physics, but I showed you physics.”
Rose’s jersey retirement also symbolizes the most recent truly great era of Bulls basketball. With so many of his teammates in attendance for the ceremony as well as Thibodeau, it felt as much an honor for Rose as it was for the players who battled alongside him.
“To accomplish this, it took minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, years, but this [banner] this is forever,” a tearful Luol Deng said in a speech honoring Rose. “When people talk about all the minutes, all the injuries, everything we went through, that’s our trophy, man.”
As the jumbotron showed highlights from the 2010s Bulls teams throughout the night with cheers and roars from the crowd, it’s difficult to ignore the juxtaposition between that era of Bulls basketball and the current one. In the decade since Rose suited up in the red, white and black, the Bulls have made the playoffs just twice. During Rose’s time with the Bulls, the team never had a losing record. In the years since, Chicago’s had just one winning record.
Despite the win against a strong Celtics team Saturday, night, and all the fanfare from Rose’s ceremony, it doesn’t distract from the Groundhog’s day cycle the current era of Bulls basketball is in. If anything, Rose’s celebration only served as a reminder of how far this team has fallen since then.
It’s been a constant cycle of winning about 35 games, earning a Play-In Tournament spot only to miss the playoffs yet again. Never good enough to seriously contend, yet too stubborn to completely free fall into what could land them their next Rose.
Even right now, as spirited as the win was against the Celtics, the Bulls currently have a 23-22 record. The trade deadline is in two weeks and it may pass without Chicago making massive changes to its roster. In a year where the Bulls could’ve gotten a generational star like Rose was when they drafted him No. 1 overall in 2008, Chicago’s instead content with being just competitive enough to play an 83rd game at the end of the season.
The nostalgia of reliving the greatest moments of Rose’s career warmed the city of Chicago in the midst of sub-freezing temperatures. But then reality hits, and it sinks in that this franchise is as far as ever from reaching the heights Rose brought the Bulls. And to make matters worse, from the way this team has operated over the last decade, it seems like they’re OK with being mediocre.
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