The number retirement is still to come for Derrick Rose, but the former league MVP still felt plenty of love on Saturday from the Chicago Bulls.
With several former teammates in the building, the native son of Chicago was honored in a “Derrick Rose Night” halftime ceremony at the United Center on Saturday during a game between the Bulls and the New York Knicks, the two teams that represented 11 of Rose’s 15 seasons in the NBA. You can watch the entire ceremony here.
Speakers consisted of Bulls commentator Stacey King, and Bulls and Knicks teammate Joakim Noah. The latter’s speech moved Rose to tears.
After a lengthy tribute video, Rose delivered his own speech, which included:
“Being great means sometimes you’re going to be disliked. You have to show courage that [even though] people dislike you or whatever it is, that I’m confident in my choice. I’m confident that I will make it. I want to be great. You want to be great
“So thank you Chicago for forcing me to be great, putting those expectations on me, not understanding that I was trying to be great the entire time too, and I just didn’t know the environment that I was in that was forcing me to. So thank you for everybody that watched me since I was in sixth grade, seventh grade, eight grade, injuries, MVP, playoff losses, playoff wins, thank you.”
Rose announced his retirement in September, with his place in Chicago basketball history more than secure. He was the local star from Simeon High School who came back, by a stroke of fortune, as the No. 1 overall pick in the 2008 NBA Draft and turned the suffering Bulls into an Eastern Conference contender.
Injuries ultimately ended his run as an elite player, but his reception Saturday showed the city still thinks of him as a star. The Bulls announced earlier Saturday that Rose will be the fifth player in team history to have his number retired, joining Michael Jordan (23), Scottie Pippen (33), Jerry Sloan (4) and Bob Love (10), with a ceremony to be held at a later date.
No, there will not be a statue.