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Back when he was still a member of the Chicago Bulls, teammates of Derrick Rose motivated him by name-dropping other star point guards in the league.
Per Darnell Mayberry of The Athletic, former Chicago Bulls teammates Taj Gibson and Ronnie Brewer revealed how they motivated Rose back then. According to Gibson, whenever an elite guard would match up against Rose, the former MVP would go hard after him the entire game:
Article Continues Below“A big-name guard would come into the arena and he would make sure he would go at them and try to dominate the game. His defense was sound. He wanted to really play that “I’m not going to let you score” mentality and it showed every game.”
Brewer echoed Gibson's statements. He added that they would name-drop certain star guards like Russell Westbrook, Rajon Rondo, Damian Lillard, John Wall, or Stephen Curry just to see how Rose would react:
“We used to joke around and kind of try to push his buttons and be, like, “Hey, D. Rose, we were out there warming up and Russell Westbrook was talking crazy like he’s about to go at your head.” Or (Rajon) Rondo. Or Dame Lillard.”
He wasn’t much of a talker. But to see his actions and how he took that to heart and how much attention to detail he had about being great was phenomenal.”
It's an interesting tidbit about Rose and his teammates. He has since come a long way after suffering those career-altering injuries. Now, the 30-year-old Derrick Rose is slowly returning to form. He may not be the old MVP Rose, but he sure is healthy.
