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On September 26, Derrick Rose officially announced his retirement from the NBA, culminating a tumultuous career with legendary highs and miserable lows. From becoming the youngest player in NBA history to win the MVP award and dueling with LeBron James and the vaunted Heatles squads of the early 2010s to suffering multiple serious knee injuries that sapped Rose of his trademark explosiveness, he has had a career to remember.
Through all the ups and downs, Rose has earned his rightful place in the NBA Hall of Fame.
Derrick Rose had the greatest peak of any player in basketball history
Derrick Rose had the greatest peak of any player in basketball history. This includes Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant and even LeBron James. All of those great names, and yet D-Rose had a higher peak than any of them.
Yes, his peak might have been very brief. Indeed it was, and that is extremely unfortunate. However, for a fleeting moment in the early 2010s, Rose impacted an entire generation of basketball fans, redefined the definition of athleticism, and helped set the stage for the next decade of the NBA.
When D-Rose was coming out of college, we all thought that we knew what athleticism meant, and what an elite athlete looked like. The truth is that we didn’t. Rose represented something that had never been seen before. The gracefulness with which he played, and the violent, thunderous power that he could bring to bear on helpless opponents is something that might never be re-created. Rose had an unmatched combination of speed, agility, ballhandling, and power.
It’s just a shame that we only got to enjoy his dominance for such a short period of time.
D-Rose redefined what it meant to be an NBA point guard
Prior to Rose’s career, NBA point guards were primarily known for their playmaking. Sure, you had guards such as Allen Iverson, but even those guys were known more for their ballhandling rather than their explosiveness. The thing about Rose is he wasn’t just athletic, he was explosive.
It’s as if Michael Jordan returned as a 6-foot-3 point guard and maintained all of his explosiveness and dynamic jumping ability. The comparison rings true not just because they both played for the Chicago Bulls. Rose is one of the few athletes who could honestly stake a claim to being as athletic as Air Jordan himself.
The way that fans today fondly reminisce on Jordan‘s career and remember him for his explosiveness that will stand the test of time, we might one day look back on Rose with the same fondness and realize that we will never see anyone quite like him again.
The Chicago native's elite combination of speed, explosiveness, and high-flying ability is something that might never be matched, and the only way to relive it will be watching old footage from Rose at its peak. That right there is a legacy and an argument for Derrick Rose to be in the Hall of Fame.
Rose reinvented himself multiple times throughout his career
After his brutal string of injuries started, Rose was relentless in getting back to the NBA and improving his skills. His career wouldn’t stop by injury. He made it his mission to redefine himself as a player and emerge from the ashes of the forgotten.
During his brief but exhilarating prime, Rose was never a good three-point shooter. Part of that was because of the era that he played in and what the league emphasized at that time.
By the mid to late 2010s, that all changed as Steph Curry had emerged. Rose quickly went to work, rebuilding his game to fit the modern NBA and emerged from rehab as a dynamic outside shooter. The Englewood native reworked his form and rebuilt his shot from scratch, becoming somebody who defenses had to legitimately feel threatened by when he was outside of the arc.
Thanks to his impressive driving ability, defenses would prefer that he shoot rather than drive. However, prior to the injury, defenses would essentially leave him alone on the perimeter. They couldn’t do that anymore, unless they risked getting burned.
Prior to 2018, Rose was consistently a sub-30% three-point shooter. After he rebuilt his shot, he wasn’t he was never below 30% again. While that’s not a particularly high bar, he hit the mid-30s frequently and even sprinkled in a couple of seasons where he shot above 40% from deep.
In rebuilding his shot, Rose provided an important lesson to fans, and admirers all over the world: no matter how good you might be at something, you should always strive to find ways to improve. He lived by this motto, and that’s what allowed him to thrive in the NBA despite injuries sapping away so much of the pure physical talent that made him a superstar in the first place.
D-Rose transcended the game of basketball
Rose did something for the game that not every great player can claim to do. He wasn’t just a player and he wasn’t even just a superstar. Rose was an ambassador for the sport. The same way that Michael Jordan inspired a generation of fans, the same way that Allen Iverson brought new fans with his crossover, the way LeBron James and his thunderous slams inspired kids to pick up the basketball, Rose and his explosiveness did the same.
50 years from now, grandparents will be telling their grandkids about how inspiring it was to watch Rose dominate defenses during his career with his explosiveness and blinding speed.
The bottom line
Rose might be one of the great “what-if” stories in all of sports, but he earned his place in the Hall of Fame due to the incredible heights he reached, how he transformed the meaning of words like athleticism and explosiveness, and the fond memories and highlight reels he left us with. It’s time for D-Rose to enjoy retirement and wait for the call to be immortalized in the Hall of Fame.
