We all have that one guy who we wished never got injured and played up to their full potential for the length of a long, illustrious career. Young Derrick Rose was like a raging ball of basketball fire. Somehow, he had the capacity to harness all that burning energy for brief moments - only to unleash it on unwitting defenders and distraught opposing fans. His fateful ACL injury in the 2012 playoffs robbed us of a chance to see a full-strength, Derrick Rose-led Chicago Bulls team lock horns again with the notorious Big 3 Miami Heat. His injuries definitely robbed us of some incredible feats of athleticism, but I'm more upset that we never got to see the Heat and Bulls battle it out in the postseason on multiple occasions with Rose.
I knew Derrick was special when he played the greatest first round playoff series of all time against the Boston Celtics in 2009. Kevin Garnett was injured so it was the Ray Allen & Paul Pierce Boston Celtics vs. a rookie Derrick Rose and a soon-to-be clutch sharpshooter named Ben Gordon. The Celtics prevailed in 7 exhausting, adrenaline-draining affairs - but it took four overtime games (7 OT periods in all), one of which was a triple overtime classic. Derrick Rose scored 36 points in his first ever playoff game, which tied Kareem Abdul Jabbar's 39-year-old record for most points by a rookie scored in their first playoff contest. His incredible performances totally caught us off-guard and garnered the attention of a national audience! A rookie almost pushed the defending champions over the edge. It looked like we were being blessed with the next big-time NBA star. Here's a quick recap of Games 1 & 2, then below that are highlights of the insane triple-overtime Game 6
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Bulls vs. Celtics NBA Playoffs 2009 Game 6 3OT
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D Rose was certainly on my radar after these performances. He followed up his phenomenal freshman campaign with an All-Star berth in his sophomore year. Rose was the first Bull to receive that honor since Michael Jordan. When playoff time rolled around, the Bulls fell to the Cavs in five games, but his star was quickly rising to the tune of the fourth place in the league's top selling jerseys.
Then 2010-11 happened. LeBron was fresh off shattering the sporting world by hopping over to the Miami Heat with Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh. I think sports journalists instinctively wanted to pick someone else for MVP given that LeBron won the previous two years (and maybe because he was the league's bad guy now). Derrick Rose led to the Bulls to a 62-win season to go with his newly minted MVP at the ripe age of 22. While the Heat were trying to figure out how to play together in their first year, Rose was out here getting buckets! It was so long ago, it seems like such a bygone era. But I feel like that was one of the last times that the Eastern Conference had solid teams from top to bottom. You had the LeBron Heat, Rose/Luol Deng/Joachim Noah Bulls, Big 3 Celtics, Amare Stoudemire/Carmelo Anthony Knicks, Dwight Howard Magic, Josh Smith/Joe Johnson Hawks, and Danny Granger Pacers. That's a lot better than the poop we are seeing in today's East.
Rose's Bulls made it to the 2011 Eastern Conference Finals in his MVP year, but they fell to the Heat in five overall easy games. Rose had a nice average of 27 points in that series, but he didn't put up satisfactory shooting percentages (39% from the floor, 24% from three). At times, the offense looked like it lacked the fluidity that Miami's Big 3 were discovering. It was the only time a prime Derrick Rose would get to go against LeBron in the playoffs. That dang injury took some potentially amazing NBA moments away from us. If Derrick Rose stayed healthy, he could've been the one continually challenging in the Heat in the Eastern Conference instead of the Pacers. Maybe he would've just been the one to get past them in that era.
What always stuck out to me as a spectator of Rose was his explosive aggressiveness when going to the rim. He would just have the most powerful jumps when he was cutting through the paint for a body-contorting layup or ferocious dunk. I always remember he would just look so cool when he would wear those black knee braces and stomp through the forest of defenders, elevating powerfully off of a jump with both feet. Ironically, that explosive two-foot jump was the last athletic move he made before tearing his ACL. Kind of poetic in a way, but sad. It was like his body couldn't take all the force it was throwing around. I'm glad that we still have the athletic point guard behavior of Russell Westbrook in the league, but I wonder if he's going to incur an injury like Rose's with how much force he pushes around. I'm surprised he hasn't gotten one yet honestly! Check out a video below of all Rose's awe-inspiring plays from the MVP year.
He was getting so much done in only 4 years of play. MVP by year 3, but then the ACL injury happened at the end of his fourth year. His ceiling almost seemed limitless before that occurred. He was like a combination of Russell Westbrook's athleticism and ferocity coupled with the layup coordination of Kyrie Irving - but with the understated mannerisms of Tim Duncan. Apparently, it was too deadly a combination for the Basketball Gods to allow to exist with any longevity. Derrick Rose is the one player that I wish never got injured.
If you had to pick a player who you wish never got a career-derailing injury, who would it be? Doesn't have to be basketball, pick your favorite "Injury What If" from your favorite sport!
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