Pippen Ain't Easy
Fansided

Chicago Bulls: Top 15 draft picks in franchise history

By Jason Patt

SALT LAKE CITY, UT - JUNE 11: Michael Jordan #23 hugs teammate Scottie Pippen #33 of the Chicago Bulls following Game Five of the 1997 NBA Finals played against the Utah Jazz on June 11, 1997 at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City, Utah. The Chicago Bulls defeated the Utah Jazz 90-88. Ahmad Rashad tries to get an interview for NBC. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 1997 NBAE (Photo by Nathaniel S. Butler/NBAE via Getty Images)
SALT LAKE CITY, UT - JUNE 11: Michael Jordan #23 hugs teammate Scottie Pippen #33 of the Chicago Bulls following Game Five of the 1997 NBA Finals played against the Utah Jazz on June 11, 1997 at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City, Utah. The Chicago Bulls defeated the Utah Jazz 90-88. Ahmad Rashad tries to get an interview for NBC. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 1997 NBAE (Photo by Nathaniel S. Butler/NBAE via Getty Images) /
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Derrick Rose, Chicago Bulls
(Photo by Nathaniel S. Butler/NBAE via Getty Images) /

. Memphis. 4. 24. player. . PG . Derrick Rose

Derrick Rose’s career may have been ruined by injuries, but what he accomplished in a short amount of time with the Bulls gets him a spot high on this list. After the Bulls bucked the odds and won the 2008 lottery with only a 1.7 percent chance to do so, they picked the hometown kid over Michael Beasley with the No. 1 pick in the draft.

Rose was a star right away, winning NBA Rookie of the Year and earning first-team All-Rookie honors by averaging 16.8 points, 6.3 assists and 3.9 rebounds in 37 minutes per game. In his first playoff game, the electric point guard scored 36 points against the Boston Celtics to tie Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s NBA record for points scored by a rookie in his playoff debut.

Rose became an All-Star in his second season, and then he became the youngest MVP in league history at the age of 22 in 2011. He even called his shot:

Rose put up 25 points, 7.7 assists and 4.1 rebounds per game while leading the Bulls to a 62-20 season. He took on an even bigger load in the playoffs as Chicago advanced to the Eastern Conference Finals before bowing out to LeBron James and the Miami Heat in five games.

Rose and the Bulls looked primed for another deep postseason run the next season, but disaster struck in Game 1 against the Philadelphia 76ers when he tore his ACL in the final minutes. That marked the beginning of the end of Rose’s career in Chicago.

#TheReturn hit a snag when Rose didn’t actually return to the court in 2012-13, despite reports that he was cleared to play. When he finally returned in 2013-14, he tore his meniscus at the beginning of the year and missed the rest of the year. He showed flashes of his old self in 2014-15 and 2015-16, but he wasn’t close to the same player and was traded to the New York Knicks in a deal that brought Robin Lopez and Jerian Grant to Chicago.

Who knows where Rose and the Bulls wind up if he doesn’t suffer that fateful ACL tear in 2012. He was on track to be one of the best players in the league for a long time, and perhaps the Bulls would have another banner hanging in the United Center rafters. He even had a rule in the 2011 collective bargaining agreement named after him because of his early MVP award.

Rose will go down as one of the greatest “what if?” stories in NBA history.

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