The Chicago Bulls honored their son Derrick Rose on Saturday night against the Knicks in a “Derrick Rose Night” half-time ceremony at the United Center.
It was a fitting time to hold one, considering NY and Chicago made up 11 of Rose’s 15 seasons in the NBA.
During the half-time tribute, there were words from Bulls commentator Stacey King, and Bulls / Knicks teammate Joakim Noah.
Noah’s speech moved Rose to tears.
“Pooh, this story is not just about your success,” Noah said. “It’s about hope, it’s about overcoming adversity. Every time you step inside the [United Center] fans are going to chant MVP.”
“You’re an MVP, you’re the youngest MVP in league history, you’re the MVP of Chicago,” Noah continued. “Being the MVP carries a lot of responsibility. The way you handled yourself through all of that, that’s what I’m inspired about. You always put the city on your back and you carried that with you. You’re not only the MVP, you’re the people’s champ.”
After a lengthy tribute video, Rose delivered his own speech, and you could see his son PJ was also moved to tears.
“Being great means sometimes you’re going to be disliked,” Rose said. “You have to show courage that [even though] people dislike you or whatever it is, that I’m confident in my choice. I’m confident that I will make it. I want to be great. You want to be great.
“So thank you Chicago for forcing me to be great, putting those expectations on me, not understanding that I was trying to be great the entire time too, and I just didn’t know the environment that I was in that was forcing me to. So thank you for everybody that watched me since I was in sixth grade, seventh grade, eight grade, injuries, MVP, playoff losses, playoff wins, thank you.”
Before his half time special, D-Rose learned he would be getting his jersey retired in the rafters by the team next season.
The moment Pooh learned his number is officially going in the rafters 🥹 pic.twitter.com/D8JZjXhdtG
— Chicago Bulls (@chicagobulls) January 4, 2025
He has made it clear after the latest statue unveiling in Miami that he doesn’t want a statue and the Bulls say there won’t be one – thank God.
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