Derrick Rose’s career is full of what-ifs, but the fact it lasted this long is the real wonder

The word that comes to mind, or rather to the heart of everything with Derrick Rose, is focus.

It takes an inordinate amount of focus to make it through a treacherous road to even get to a professional level and even more steel to elevate.

For Rose, the Chicago-born-and-bred kid who quietly announced his retirement Thursday morning — while taking out ads in the newspapers of the cities where he played — it’s something more than focus, because his career was so winding, so spellbinding and, at times, so damned confusing.

He’ll probably be the only Most Valuable Player in NBA history to not make the Naismith Hall of Fame, even if he has a case by mere imprint on the game. Hopefully, the Bulls will retire his jersey even though they inexplicably gave the No. 1 away a couple times since his 2016 trade to the New York Knicks.

But that only matters but so much to Chicago — a city that’s as tough on its own as it is warm to the same figures it holds impossible expectations for. You’d be hard-pressed to find a player-city relationship so complicated, so layered and yet, so valuable to the overall culture and feeling the way Rose was married to Chicago.

Derrick Rose was the MVP of the league before his body failed him. (Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images)

Not even LeBron James — who didn’t grow up in Cleveland but Akron, some 35 minutes away from downtown — hits the same way Rose does with Chicago.

When he “made it,” and not by being named MVP in 2011 or any other accolade he nabbed during his too-short prime, but by mere existence, Chicago rejoiced. Everything else was icing on the cake.

For most.

There’s only been so many things to cheer about with the Bulls since Michael Jordan exited the building in June 1998, and Rose seemed to author or co-write 80 percent of them. There was a time when one could question Rose’s 2011 MVP, but any litigation seems like folly in hindsight, and there have been others since worth more examination.

Just like before he was introduced to the world basketball stage as a late teen, the narrative back then, and in 2011, was the same: You had to be there.

Not as maniacal…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/derrick-roses-career-is-full-of-what-ifs-but-the-fact-it-lasted-this-long-is-the-real-wonder-000906381.html

Author : Yahoo Sports

Publish date : 2024-09-27 00:09:06

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