I love Derrick Rose. I hope Derrick blossoms next to LeBron and wins a ring. I know what Derrick is capable of on a basketball court. I’d still like to see Derrick retire as a Bull.
But 2010–11 Rose lasted one season. He had nagging injuries the next season and by the time he got healthy for the playoffs, he blew out his ACL. We’ve seen glimpses of the Derrick of old:
But the Bulls bet on Jimmy instead of Derrick’s injuries going into the last year of his contract. Derrick had his best year since 2012 with the Knicks but he still missed 18 games. I can’t put him on the Bulls’ Mount Rushmore based on three healthy seasons. He’d be my next choice over Sloan, even over Grant or Rodman or Kukoc.
The Bulls only missed the playoffs ONCE with him on the team, healthy or not. That’s quite a statistic. Two of those seasons were almost completely without Derrick though. In 2015, Rose came back from a second meniscus tear in the same knee he hurt in 2013 to lead the Bulls to a 6 game loss to the eventual Eastern Conference champion Cavs in the second round. A series the Bulls were a LeBron game winner from leading 3–2 going to back to Cleveland…
I could second guess myself all night but Derrick Rose should be on the Bulls’ Mount Rushmore. Derrick Rose should be in a Bulls uniform still. Unfortunately, fate had other plans for him. But don’t ever say I don’t respect or love Derrick Rose and what he did for the Bulls in his time there. It hurt me to leave him off. I wish him all the best.