3 Life Lessons Chicago Bulls History Can Teach My Son

3. Perseverance, the Hometown Hero

Did you hear about the rose that grew
from a crack in the concrete?
Proving nature’s law is wrong it
learned to walk without having feet.
Funny it seems, but by keeping its dreams,
it learned to breathe fresh air.
Long live the rose that grew from concrete
when no one else ever cared.

― Tupac Shakur

Derrick Rose was just a kid from Englewood on the South Side of Chicago. At Simeon Career Academy, he wore the number 25 in honor of Ben “Benji” Wilson, the top player in the nation in 1984 who was tragically gunned down in a pointless sidewalk altercation.

But he didn’t just wear the jersey. In 2006, Rose delivered on his homage by leading Simeon to its first state title since Wilson did it in 1984.

The kid talked the talk and walked the walk. He was a star in the making.

When the Bulls drafted him in 2008, your daddy was ecstatic. Chicago was in Derrick Rose’s blood, winning basketball was on his resume, and the Bulls actually had a decent squad around the young star to help him develop and complement his skill set. Everything looked like it was going to be great.

And it was, for a while. Derrick exploded onto the scene, putting up record rookie numbers for the Bulls organization and netting Rookie of the Year honors. In true Rose fashion, he wasn’t finished there. In 2010, Derrick Rose asked a very important question that I would like you to ask yourself daily, if you can, young man: Why not me? 

Why not me for MVP? he asked. And on May 3, 2011, Derrick Rose became the youngest Most Valuable Player to ever win the award.

But not everything works out, little man. Life is hard, and Derrick Rose found that out the hard way in 2012 when he tore his ACL in the meaningless waning minutes of a game in a first round series we eventually lost.

Derrick Rose made your father cry twice. This was the first time.

I cried not only because one of my favorite players to ever step on the basketball court was hurt, but because I knew it meant the Bulls entire organization might be derailed. What ensued was chaos, with Derrick sitting out the entire 2012-13 season despite being cleared by doctors to return before the playoffs.

The refusal to play caused a huge rift in Bulls fandom, with fans that wanted to support the young player’s overall career and fans that wanted the Bulls to capitalize on being in position to win a championship. In many ways, this rift was never completely repaired.

Fans said hateful things about the guy, questioning his toughness and his will to win, and largely forgetting everything the young man had accomplished up until then. But their criticisms were warranted, with misinformation swirling out of Rose’s camp and the Bulls championship window quickly closing.

When Rose returned to action, what I saw was a shell of the former player. It was frustrating and it was sad, but I always had at least some hope he could return to his MVP form.

He never did as a Bull.

In 2014, he tore the meniscus in his right knee, then required even more knee surgery the following year. When he was traded to the Knicks for a trio of extremely mediocre players, he infamously didn’t show up for a game. Everybody counted him out at that point. His career was over.

I hung my head, but I didn’t cry. Like many before, from Greg Oden and Brandon Roy to Grant Hill and Yao Ming, promising careers have been derailed by injury to varying degrees. I felt really bad for Derrick, and for the Bulls for that matter, but it’s just a reality of the game at this level.

It wasn’t until October 31st of 2018 that Derrick Rose made me cry again. A still relatively young man, a promise unkept, he could have easily packed it in and called it a career. He had more accomplishments than most, after all, even if it had been a short career.

But Derrick worked, he stayed patient, he kept his head up and ultimately he persevered. When I pulled up my phone to watch the highlights of Derrick Rose scoring 50 points in a game, that was when I finally cried a second time. Out of happiness that our Hometown Hero had not died a tragic death, but rose from the ashes to net a career high, even after all the surgeries and the doubt. And long after the NBA ‘experts’ had considered him relevant.

Because, son, even I had started to doubt the man. But I am thankful that Derrick Rose was able to remind me what hard work and determination can accomplish. How one man’s will can overcome all the conventional wisdom that should have seen him washed up, playing overseas or sitting at the end of some team’s bench.

Derrick Rose refused to let that be the end of his story, and I hope you can learn something from that, son.