Derrick Rose’s fall from grace has been more precipitous in his native city than nationwide. The former MVP and Simeon Career Academy superstar is a lightning rod of criticism for the Chicago Bulls these days, whether justified by his objectively middling on-court performance or consistently vexing habit of ruffling feathers with off-court soundbites.
The basketball world has come to accept what Rose is right now and most likely will be going forward: a flawed player capable of fleeting greatness. The Windy City, though, can’t quite come to grips with the present and future realities of its hometown hero – for better, worse, and somewhere in between.
But Rose, near the end of a disastrous half-decade that changed his career forever, remains undeterred. He still plays like a souped-down version of his ultra-explosive, ball-dominant, pre-injury self despite his game’s obvious erosion, and – as the 27-year-old’s sprawling Q&A with ESPN’s Nick Friedell makes clear – still provides fuel for his increasingly vocal detractors with the type of flammable rhetoric that’s led to so much recent criticism.
And if it’s up to him, Rose will continue doing all of it in Chicago.
Friedell: You told me a long time ago you never wanted to play anywhere else. Is that still true?
Rose: That’s still true. Still true. Just having my son [P.J.], I’m doing all this because of my son now, you know? Just wanting to be around him every day, having him come up here, shoot with me or see me shooting til he’s able to become a ball boy. Little things like that I think about long term. Just trying to get him groomed, trying to get him used to being in the environment.
Friedell: You want to retire here still.
Rose: For sure, for sure.
Even when Rose pledges long-term loyalty to the Bulls, he can’t help but track back to the reason he plays for them in the first place. The three-time All-Star is striving every day to reach the level that once made him the game’s brightest young player, too. Why? Not to bring a title to Chicago, but so his son can live a better life.
Friedell: You’ve always been confident in your game. You’ve always known how good you can be. Do you think that you can still get your game from where it is now to being in that MVP conversation again?
Rose: I mean, that’s the goal. That’s the goal. I’m not doing this s— just to get by or doing it just to be doing it. I’m doing this because of my son. He’s everything to me. He’s the reason why I get up and I work out the way I work out and train the way that I train. He changed everything about me, so he was a blessing.
The tide began turning against Rose early last season when he admitted to missing games for “thinking about after [he’s] done with basketball.” That’s unfair, of course.
Anyone should be granted the freedom to make work-related choices with health and family in mind first and foremost. Rose’s incredibly rare talent means he’s lucky enough to do so, but it doesn’t mean he’s taking his professional life any less seriously, either.
That’s a tough pill to swallow for many sports followers. They believe a person being paid tens of millions to play a game should put everything but basketball on the periphery. Most players are in the league for far less than a decade, after all, and there’s a clear shelf-life for even the game’s most peerless. Focus on winning now; save the rest for plush post-playing days buoyed by massive career earnings.
Rose, like all professional athletes, fully understands those delusional sentiments exist. Unlike most of them, however, he’d rather be honest and risk alienating a sizable subset of fans than toeing the line of what’s socially acceptable and being less true to himself.
Friedell: Do you think about what it would be like to have him with you celebrating in Grant Park after a title, riding with him in the parade?
Rose: Yeah, yeah. I’ll go further than that. Do I want him living here after I’m done or at the end of my career? Do I want him living in Chicago? I want him to have a life where he don’t have to worry about kids treating him a certain way because of who his dad is. If it was up to me I wouldn’t want him to play basketball, but I just want him to have a regular life so that he’s able to walk around and still be normal.
Does Rose love basketball? Of course. He even says as much when asked that leading question. But Rose’s love for his son is clearly unparalleled, and will remain the driving force behind his play on the court regardless of quality – public opinion be damned.
(Via ESPN)
