An Ode to Derrick Rose

‘Bockers are in Chicago, where Rose will be honored tonight. This only seems right.

Gonna level with y’all.

This article was initially planned to be submitted on September 28th. Derrick Rose retired two days prior and, in the pre-training camp lull, I wanted to put a tribute to him out. Unfortunately, this had to be shelved because Leon Rose had an itchy trigger finger and sent out a nuclear bomb of a trade.

The Knicks are heading to Chicago tonight in a clash with the Bulls, where Derrick Rose will be honored by his hometown team. I’ll be in attendance after freezing my butt off at Wrigley Field yesterday. I thought now would be a good time to bring out this article on “Derrick Rose Day” in Chicago.

I’m a younger Knicks fan. I didn’t grow up watching Patrick Ewing, Allan Houston, or John Starks. I didn’t live through the harrowing Isiah Thomas era. What I know about those eras of Knicks basketball is through my father and my brother.

The first jersey I ever owned was Carmelo Anthony.

Younger me bought a book about Linsanity at a school book fair.

My earliest memory as a basketball fan was Knickstape.

I vividly remember playing NBA 2k14 on a Kindle Fire (remember those?) and using Beno Udrih.

The first Knicks teams I watched played winning basketball

…until they didn’t.

My friends from grade school would call me a relentless optimist about the Knicks. I always thought they weren’t truly as bad as they seemed. I was particularly excited about the 2016-17 Knicks. Despite Phil Jackson threatening to get rid of the team’s star, the nucleus of Kristaps Porzingis, Melo, Joakim Noah, and Derrick Rose excited me. When D-Rose said after the trade that we were a superteam like the Warriors, the younger me ate it up. I wasn’t dreaming of a ring, but I drank the Kool-Aid of this being a playoff team. When they entered Christmas with a 16-13 record, it seemed like Rose was, at least, not hilariously wrong.

The Knicks proceeded to lose to Boston, lose 20 of their next 26 games, and finish 31-51. Rose disappeared without notice in January and, although we know the real reason now, soured him and his tenure with the fanbase. His tenure here ended quietly, with him signing to join LeBron on the tumultuous 2017-18 Cavaliers.

From there, I didn’t really see Derrick Rose as a Knick. When he retires, I didn’t think we’d see him around. The way he bounced around the Cavs, Wolves, and Pistons in the ensuing years made everyone think that he’ll be remembered for his titanic rise and his similarly steep fall with an impossible amount of injuries as a member of the Chicago Bulls.

We should’ve known when the Knicks hired Tom Thibodeau that Derrick Rose would find his way back to the Knicks. At the 2021 Trade Deadline, Leon Rose bought Rose from the Pistons. The Knicks were on a collision course with their first playoff season in eight years. Until the Knicks win the title, no season will have the sheer magic that the 2020-21 season had for me.

Rose would immediately become a fan favorite. After a frustrating season where he struggled with injuries and the January saga in his first stint, Rose was a dynamo off the bench in 2021. Some numbers:

• Rose played 35 games and averaged 26.8 minutes a night despite only three starts. He averaged 15 points and 4.2 assists a game on 48.7% from the field and 41.1% from 3
• That 3pt% is notable. He shot just 60 in 64 games during his first stint and shot 20.9%. In 35 games this time, he went a blistering 37-for-90. Talk about a renaissance.
• Rose had seven 20-point games off the bench, including 27 against the Lakers on May 11.
• He was a sixth man of the year finalist, getting one first-place vote and falling behind Joe Ingles and Jordan Clarkson.
• Oh yeah, he was also ninth in MVP voting, receiving a first-place vote for the second time in his career (2011).

If you remember, there was a massive push toward the end of the season for the Knicks to replace their current starting point guard, Elfrid Payton, with Rose. Payton was a dreadful scorer and shooter and was more of a hub for defense and playmaking, although both had regressed from when he first became a Knick. We didn’t get our wish for a while, but Rose eventually forced Thibs’ hand.

Game 1 against the Hawks. Before the series, we had no idea what national narratives were about to emerge. I made my way to Madison Square Garden with my dad and brother. When playoff tickets came out, he told us that he bought tickets to all the home games, which was way more than what I expected him to. He was that excited about Knicks playoff basketball. And so, Game 1 started inside of a buzzing MSG, which was at its highest capacity in over a year. The first playoff game I went to was the experience of a lifetime, even if it ended with a heartbreaking game-winning floater that burst Trae Young onto the national scene.

Tom Thibodeau quickly realized how unviable Elfrid Payton was, especially if he wasn’t being a Trae Young stopper. He started but only played a dreadful eight minutes as Rose and an exciting rookie by the name of Immanuel Quickley overtook him. The Game 1 maestro was Alec Burks, who dropped 27 points as Julius Randle slumped in what we thought was just an off-game. The Knicks couldn’t go down 0-2. Not after all they’ve been through.

Three days later, the day before my birthday, the Knicks tipped for Game 2. Our seats were practically in the rafters, but any seat at a playoff game in the Mecca of Basketball is a good seat. Thibs started Elfrid Payton again, but he was glued to the bench after five minutes. When the Hawks jumped out to an early lead, the feeling inside the Garden was extremely uneasy. Trailing 57-44 at the half with Randle still deep in a slump, the dream season was crashing down in front of us.

Until… it didn’t.

There were more iconic moments in Game 1. IQ’s lob to Obi and RJ’s poster of Bogdanovic are the two plays I vividly remember (that went well for us) and both never mattered. It was a methodical comeback, led by Randle, Rose, and Burks. A couple of well-timed threes by Reggie Bullock didn’t hurt either. The scene inside and outside MSG was unforgettable.

Sadly, that was the peak of the We Here Era. Despite 30 from a now-starting D-Rose, the Knicks lost Game 3 and later Game 4 in Atlanta. My dad sold the tickets to Game 5, where Trae bid adieu to the MSG crowd, ending our magical season.

The sequel to the We Here Knicks should’ve been even better. They added offense in Evan Fournier and Kemba Walker to surround Randle after the offense collapsed in the playoffs with Randle silenced. A season of drama, benchings, and injuries led to an ugly 37-45 record. Rose missed 56 games after undergoing ankle surgery. We didn’t know it at the time, but that injury would be what put the magic renaissance of Derrick Rose to bed.

Rose started his second tenure as a Knick backing up Elfrid Payton, then Kemba Walker, and now Jalen Brunson. Unfortunately, the same issues bedeviled the early 2022-23 Knicks and it was abundantly clear that the now 34-year-old Rose lost a step. Tom Thibodeau, who was reportedly the best man at Rose’s wedding, made the tough but needed decision to permanently bench him after an ugly December loss to Dallas. That, along with banishing Fournier and Cam Reddish to the bench, sparked the resurgence of Knicks basketball that is ongoing to this day.

And, maybe Rose’s greatest contribution, was not causing a scene. He was more than willing to take a backseat and mentor young guards Deuce McBride and Immanuel Quickley while a Chicago kid who idolized him shined on the hardwood day in and day out. Rose’s first tenure was so ugly, but the way the second one ended was beautiful.

Rose had been benched for two months now. His last appearance was New Year’s Eve 2022. The Knicks were smoking the Pelicans in MSG. The fans began chanting with under three minutes to play.

Der-rick Rose. Der-rick Rose.

A crowd that a few years ago saw him as nothing more as another washed guard on a dysfunctional Knicks team was chanting his name, begging Thibs to put him in.

Thibs obliged.

After that late February contest, Rose was again reduced to player-in-name-only, until a similar situation occurred in a jubilant MSG during a blowout in Game 3 of the 2023 1st Round matchup with the Cavs.

Der-rick Rose, Der-rick Rose

Thibs had ignored the crowd a few times inbetween, but he again acquiesced to the fans.

His final moments as a Knick were playing out a playoff win, two years after his late-career revival gave all he could to enjoy this moment more than once.

Rose played a partial season in Memphis last year after the Knicks cut him loose, getting caught in the mess of injuries that destroyed what was supposed to be a Western Conference contender. He hung up his shoes in late September, ending a career that will forever be one of the greatest “what ifs” in NBA history.

As someone who was too young to watch the Knicks play in the NBA Finals and someone too young to fully remember the Knickstape playoff runs that I watched, everyone in that 2020-21 Knicks team holds a special place in my heart. For a long time, all I knew was suffering as a Knicks fan, clinging to hope by way of rumors (the 2019 offseason almost broke me) and hope guys like Damyean Dotson and Allonzo Trier could be diamonds in the rough. Derrick Rose revitalized the Knicks with his instant impact, spearheaded one of the great memories of my life, and went out in a way that would make everyone welcome him back with open arms when he retires.

Enjoy retirement, Derrick. Chicago isn’t the only place you’ll be welcome.