Derrick Rose‘s iconic No. 1 jersey will be hung in the rafters of the United Center on Saturday night following their game against the Boston Celtics. The current team has won three in a row and are back at .500, but the packed house tonight will have more than a regular season game on their agenda.
Rose’s emergence as a budding young superstar, prior to a cruel intervention from fate, helped reinvigorate his hometown Bulls during an exciting era. Along with fellow Chicago All-Stars Jimmy Butler, Joakim Noah, and Luol Deng, plus head coach Tom Thibodeau, Rose galvanized the Windy City into caring more about its team than at any point since the Michael Jordan dynasty came to a close.
Let’s unpack his Bulls journey.
Derrick Rose’s Rookie of the Year Campaign, All-Star Emergence
David Butler II-USA TODAY SportsDerrick Rose being drafted No. 1 overall in 2008 out of Memphis by his hometown Chicago Bulls was no sure thing. Kansas State power forward Michael Beasley was a highly regarded prospect, too, and both players were being carefully considered by then-Bulls GM John Paxson. Rose had been a prep star at Simeon High School before his one-and-done season under John Calipari.
Funnily enough, were that draft done today, neither Rose nor Beasley would wind up in Chicago.
Another future MVP, Russell Westbrook, and his then-UCLA teammate Kevin Love are the two likely Hall of Famers from that ’08 draft class. Westbrook — who at the time was docked points because of positional uncertainty at the next level — was selected with the fourth overall pick by the then-Seattle SuperSonics (who would become the Oklahoma City Thunder before Westbrook could suit up for a game), while Love went fifth to the Minnesota Timberwolves.
Granted, Rose got off to the fastest start among anyone in his draft class, and definitely had a Hall of Fame trajectory (heck, he might still make it) until the health troubles hit.
As a rookie, his athleticism (lateral + vertical speed) stood out. He and Westbrook were instantly the fastest players in the game during that charmed 2008-09 season, weaving into driving lanes with relative ease.
Rose had joined a Bulls club that was in something of a transitional state. The club had made the second round of the playoffs just two seasons prior, but internal disputes and chemistry issues led to a flurry of trades, a 33-win finish and the midseason firing of Scott Skiles in 2007-08.
Still, that 2008-09 Bulls squad boasted promising young talent in Rose, Noah and Deng, plus skilled vets in Ben Gordon and Kirk Hinrich. New head coach Vinny Del Negro’s club really got cooking when John Paxson made a smart (!) deadline trade, bringing in swingman John Salmons and jump-shooting center Brad Miller from the Sacramento Kings. With the new additions, Chicago went 16-11 and finished the year looking way better than their 41-41 record.
Rose beat out O.J. Mayo for Rookie of the Year honors, averaging 16.8 points on 47.5 percent shooting from the field and 78.8 percent shooting from the foul line, 6.3 dimes, 3.9 boards and 0.8 swipes while playing in a whopping 81 games.
But things got really interesting in the playoffs.
The No. 7-seeded Bulls were matched up with the No. 2-seeded Boston Celtics, then the reigning champs. The two teams were way more even than they may have appeared on paper, since Boston’s best player, Kevin Garnett, was out for the postseason with an injury. Luol Deng was also shelved.
-deadline Bulls, though, were significantly better than their middling record may have indicated.
Rose fully announced himself on the basketball stage in Game 1, tying a then-rookie record for a playoff debut with a 36-point outburst against All-Defensive Team Celtics guard Rajon Rondo. Noah also chipped in 11 points, 17 rebounds, three blocks, two assists and a steal. Gordon had 20 points. The Bulls stole that opener with a 105-103 overtime thriller on the road.
Boston took Game 2 by a single possession, 118-115, before a 107-86 United Center blowout win appeared to put them in the driver’s seat for the series. Chicago didn’t wilt in Game 4, surviving a double-overtime thriller to best Boston, barely, 121-118. Rose, Noah, and then-starting power forward Tyrus Thomas each nabbed double-doubles, while Salmons and Gordon chipped in 20+ points apiece and Hinrich and Miller made big bench contributions.
The Celtics outlasted Chicago in yet another overtime clash for Game 5, 106-104. The Bulls’ response in a must-win Game 6, though, was their masterpiece. Chicago leaned on its youthful energy and pace to win a triple-overtime thriller by a single point, 128-127, forcing a Game 7. While Salmons, Rose and Miller led the Bulls in scoring, the game was a two-way coming-out party for Joakim Noah.
He had the single greatest sequence of his career when he stole the ball from Paul Pierce and sprinted down the court for a slam, while also drawing contact from a trailing Pierce and forcing the Hall of Famer’s ejection.
When the Celtics led most of the way at home in Game 7 and no overtime was forced, it felt like a letdown. But Rose — and the Bulls — had clearly arrived.
Chicago failed to build on its momentum the next year, even with a healthy Luol Deng now in tow. Ben Gordon departed for the Detroit Pistons in free agency. Salmons lost his starting gig to Kirk Hinrich and was eventually flipped to the Milwaukee Bucks. But Rose continued his ascent, averaging 20.8 points, 6.0 assists and 3.8 rebounds. He was named to his first of three straight All-Star squads.
Still, Noah continued to grow, the Bulls drafted Taj Gibson (plus a little-used James Johnson), and Chicago made the playoffs again — this time, they were booted in a five-game, first-round series by LeBron James’ Cleveland Cavaliers.
Tom Thibodeau Arrives, Rose Reaches MVP Superstardom
© Jeff Hanisch-USA TODAY SportsJames was just one of a host of All-Stars to hit free agency during that inaugural “Player Empowerment Era” summer of 2010. Chicago was in the mix for everybody, although it had to deal away Hinrich to open up enough cap space for two maximum contracts. James, Dwyane Wade, and Chris Bosh were the clear top prizes, but just below that trio was another tier of All-Star talent: Ama’re Stoudemire (who on merit alone was at the level of the others, but he was a major health question mark even then), Joe Johnson, and Carlos Boozer.
James formed a new evil empire with Wade and Bosh on the Miami Heat, instantly establishing themselves as the team to beat in the Eastern Conference. Chicago, having brought aboard Tom Thibodeau fresh off his second NBA Finals appearance in three years as a lead assistant on the Boston Celtics, pivoted.
The Bulls signed Boozer to a maximum contract, and he brought along his former Utah Jazz teammates Kyle Korver and Ronnie Brewer. A little-heralded journeyman, shooting guard Keith Bogans, also came aboard. Draft-and-stash Turkish center Omer Aisk finally made his NBA debut.
Pundits tempered their expectations, pegging Chicago as a mid-tier East playoff out. But the Bulls had different plans.
When Derrick Rose asked, “Why can’t I be the MVP of the league?” during his preseason presser, he was greeted by skepticism and an indifferent shrug by NBA media.
Well he sure proved them wrong.
Rose put on an absolute clinic, and under Thibodeau’s tutelage, Chicago became one of the most lethal squads in the NBA. Fresh off a gold medal run with Team USA in Turkey, Rose anchored the offense as a brilliant score-first guard who could get by absolutely anybody and Boozer played his role as a rebounding machine and solid rim finisher. But the Bulls thrived especially on defense, anchored by Noah, Deng, Gibson, and Asik.
An early injury to Brewer prompted Thibodeau to start Bogans alongside Rose in his backcourt. Although the Kentucky product didn’t score much, his activity on the other end helped him keep the job all year. Korver thrived as a bench sharpshooter, while reserves like C.J. Watson and a very old Kurt “Big Sexy” Thomas electrified the Madhouse on Madison at every home game.
Rose, of course, was the standout, a one-man highlight reel prone to embarrassing defenders on fastbreaks, including a then-peak Goran Dragic.
16 years ago today, Derrick Rose did this to Dragic… pic.twitter.com/3nD1OwMVWJ
— Ballislife.com (@Ballislife) January 22, 2026Suddenly the Bulls, not the Heat, were the top seed in the Eastern Conference heading into the playoffs. When the dust on their regular season had settled, the Bulls finished with an East-best 62-20 record, Thibodeau was named Coach of the Year, the 22-year-old Rose became the youngest MVP in league history, general manager Gar Forman won co-Executive of the Year honors (along with Miami president Pat Riley), and Noah made his inaugural All-Defensive Team.
Rose’s arrival as a superstar was part of a wave of small guards thriving in the wake of the league’s more punitive approach to hand-check defensive coverages, starting with the 2004-05 season. Players like Rose, Chris Paul, John Wall, and later Stephen Curry and Jalen Brunson would have struggled to get the kind of open lanes they’ve enjoyed in the ensuing decades without this rule change.
Other guards from that era felt a bit more evergreen. Russell Westbrook’s strength and size would probably have made him a hit in the ’90s, too.
But no one had the controlled rim-obliterating ferocity of a pre-injury Rose at his apex, as he was this season. His ability to somehow elevate after pausing on a drive, as in this unforgettable moments against future teammate Rip Hamilton’s Detroit Pistons, was unreal.
Stacey King really came into his own as a broadcaster during this miracle season, doling out hilarious nicknames and really letting the world in to his congenial personality.
Chicago was so dominant in 2010-11 that it compelled two rival teams’ coaching changes after blowout victories. Indiana Pacers head coach Jim O’Brien was canned and supplanted by Frank Vogel (a wise move), while longtime Utah Jazz head coach Jerry Sloan stepped down after a defeat to the Bulls prompted a clash with All-Star Jazz guard Deron Williams.
In the playoffs, the Bulls rolled through the Pacers and the Atlanta Hawks en route to an inevitable Eastern Conference date with the Heat.
Rose and co. at least appeared ready at first, making mincemeat of Miami with an emphatic 103-82 home throttling. Rose’s signature moment in the series was this Udonis Haslem crossover-into-a-dunk over a doomed Joel Anthony.
The Heat roared back, overwhelming the Bulls with a pressing system defense and their three superstars’ two-way ability. Miami won the next three games and took a commanding 3-1 series lead.
By Game 5, with Chicago seemingly destined to pull off a win to extend the series, Miami’s All-Stars started flippantly chucking triples late. But they were so on fire that those treys connected, and the Heat ended the young Bulls’ season in a “gentleman’s sweep.” Miami couldn’t quite get it done in the NBA Finals, infamously falling apart against the Dallas Mavericks.
The Bulls and Heat appeared destined to own the East for the next half-decade at least. But it was not to be.
Injuries And The Rise of The Supporting Cast
© Caylor Arnold-USA TODAY SportsThe Bulls clearly needed an upgrade from Keith Bogans at the two spot heading into the lockout-shortened 2011-12 season.
Free agent swingmen like Jason Richardson, Josh Howard and Hamilton were all on the market and felt like worthy candidates. Chicago settled on Hamilton.
The three-time All-Star and former 2004 champ was sadly at a different stage of his career by this point, however, and he just couldn’t stay healthy. Perpetual injuries limited Hamilton to just 28 regular season games. Thibodeau was compelled to give bigger minutes to Brewer and Korver at shooting guard, plus some young late first-round rookie draft pick out of Marquette. More on him in a minute.
A compressed game schedule and major recent mileage took their toll on Rose. The Bulls again secured the best record in the conference that year, 50-16 (the equivalent of another 62-game season across a full 82-contest slate). Rose was again named an All-Star, and this time he was joined on the team by Deng. But Rose was only healthy for 39 games, a troubling harbinger of things to come.
Chicago opened the postseason with its sights firmly set on vengeance against the Heat. First, the Bulls would have to get past former Chicago head coach Doug Collins’the’ No. 8-seeded Philadelphia 76ers, a seemingly easy task.
The Bulls looked fairly dominant, with a healthy and reinvigorated Hamilton cutting all over the place to be that perfect catch-and-shoot backcourt partner with Rose at last. An eight-foot Rose jumper put the Bulls up by 16 points, 99-83, with 2:25 remaining. Philadelphia responded with two straight scoring possessions, closing the gap to a still (in those days) insurmountable 99-87 with just 94 seconds remaining in the United Center.
Although he arguably could have done it at the 2:25 mark, Tom Thibodeau absolutely should have called a timeout at this exact moment. The game was effectively over, and there was no reason to overtax his stars so early into what was expected to be a lengthy playoff run.
But Thibodeau couldn’t help himself. He kept everyone in — and Derrick Rose would never be the same.
With a shade over 80 seconds left, the 6-foot-3 point guard crumpled to the floor and turned the ball over on a drive where he had taken no contact. Carlos Boozer fouled Jodie Meeks to stop the clock.
After the game, a now-meaningless 103-91 Bulls win, Chicago revealed that Rose had torn his left ACL and would miss the rest of the playoffs. Joakim Noah eventually got hurt during that series, too, and the Bulls fell in six games. Miami would later make its second of four straight NBA Finals appearances, winning LeBron James and Chris Bosh their first-ever title against the Oklahoma City Thunder.
The next few years were a blur of tiny point guards and respectable playoff defeats. Rose missed all of 2012-13, but the Bulls managed to upset the starry Brooklyn Nets and snag a hard-fought five-game second-round playoff series loss against the Heat. Rose did return at the start of 2013-14, but he tore his meniscus 10 games into the year and was once again done for the season.
Noah and Deng became the faces of the franchise during this run, making multiple All-Star and All-Defensive Team appearances. Kirk Hinrich eventually rejoined the club. Mike Dunleavy was brought in as the club’s new sharpshooting reserve wing in 2013.
Butler quickly supplanted Hamilton as Chicago’s starting shooting guard, but a midseason trade of Deng in 2013-14 gave him even more opportunities. Short-term, though, this unleashed Noah to become the best passing big in the game, a double-double machine who was also effectively his team’s offensive hub.
That year, Noah finished fourth (!) in MVP voting and won Defensive Player of the Year honors, while guiding Chicago to a 48-win season. The Bulls were upset in the first round of the playoffs by Wall’s more athletic Washington Wizards. Thibodeau didn’t help himself at all by stubbornly starting Hinrich and Boozer over D.J. Augustin and Gibson, who by this point were roundly outplaying the old guys.
An overworked Noah was also clearly ailing during the postseason, which didn’t help Chicago’s chances, either.
Pau Gasol Arrives, Jimmy Butler Ascends — One Last Chance in the Chi for DRose
© David Richard-Imagn ImagesBy the start of the 2014-15 season, the East landscape had changed significantly. LeBron James was still dominant, but he had shifted over to the Cleveland Cavaliers in free agency to form a new “Big Three” alongside Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love.
The Indiana Pacers had supplanted the Bulls as the James-era Heat’s chief also-ran, defense-first East challengers, losing two close Eastern Conference Finals in ’13 and ’14. Mike Budenholzer’s Hawks, now with Kyle Korver in tow, were in for the season of their lives.
But Chicago wasn’t done yet.
The Bulls retooled by bringing in long-rumored trade target Pau Gasol as a free agent. Unlike their experiments with past-their-prime former stars like Hamilton and Wallace, however, this move actually worked. Gasol looked better than he had in years, and quickly reclaimed his All-Star status in Chicago. Butler, meanwhile, took the proverbial leap, making his first of six All-Star squads (so far).
Rose was back, but suddenly had become a fitfully-available role player on his own team. Noah struggled with health issues for much of the season. Rose was limited to just 51 healthy games. Rookie forward Nikola Mirotic helped add some size and shooting in the frontcourt for Chicago.
The Bulls flew a bit under-the-radar amid rumblings of a possible Thibodeau firing. The Cavaliers and Hawks made most of the headlines in the East, with Atlanta shocking everyone by posting a 60-win record. Chicago, clearly, had the second-most talented roster in the conference behind only the latest James gang. The Bulls finished with a still-respectable 50 wins and the No. 3 seed.
In the first round of the playoffs, the Bulls bested a young Giannis Antetokounmpo’s chippy Milwaukee Bucks in six games, highlighted by a hilariously lopsided 120-66 Game 6 blowout. Chicago was suddenly once again looking like the dominant force that had made the league sit up and take notice in 2010-12.
Now the Bulls’ second option behind Butler (and their third-best player behind Butler and Gasol) despite remaining the face of the franchise, Rose seemed to be getting acclimated to the club’s new hierarchy. He averaged 19.0 points, 6.5 assists, 4.3 boards, 1.5 swipes and 0.5 blocks in that Bucks series.
He flashed that old MVP game on occasion during the Milwaukee matchup.
Chicago was really cooking in the next round, yet another a rematch against LeBron James. The Bulls built out a 2-1 series edge over Cleveland when Rose iced a buzzer-beating Game 3 heave.
This writer was sitting behind the basket and lost his mind and voice for several minutes.
Chicago was beset by some very dubious officiating in Games 4 and 5.
The score was knotted up, 84-84, with 8.4 seconds remaining in Game 4. Refs failed to notice Cavs coach David Blatt calling a timeout late when he didn’t have any left, which should have yielded a Cleveland turnover, and thus a Bulls possession at the end of regulation. Instead, James made a 21-foot jumper at the buzzer and secured the narrow 86-84 victory to even up the series.
In Game 5, coffee-addicted backup Cleveland guard Matthew Dellavedova held Gibson’s leg during a play, prompting a kick from the USC product to break free. Gibson was quickly ejected — afterwards, the league admitted that it had missed the initial Dellavedova hold. Chicago was down big at the time, and rallied back to get things close late sans Gibson, so there’s no guarantee that the Bulls would have taken this one. Still, they should have at least owned a 3-2 series lead by this point, not Cleveland.
The Cavaliers closed out the Bulls in Game 6, en route to James’ fifth straight Finals appearance (a loss). Had Chicago hung on to win that series, my money is on them sweeping the Hawks in the East Finals — as Cleveland later did — before falling to Curry’s Golden State Warriors in the Finals.
After a forgettable, lottery-bound 2015-16 season under new coach Fred Hoiberg, Rose was traded to the New York Knicks, ending his Bulls tenure as a frustrating NBA “what-if.” Noah joined him there in free agency. Rose did eventually go on to become a solid role player, but was forever dogged by health problems throughout the rest of his career. His remaining athleticism was effectively gone by his first Knicks season, and he was forced to become more of a below-the-rim scorer in the lane and a jump shooter.
Rose and Thibodeau linked up again for both of the coach’s next stops, with the Minnesota Timberwolves and New York.
Outside of a valiant effort in an uncompetitive 2021 first-round Knicks playoff series loss to the Atlanta Hawks, Rose’s best moment away from Chicago was a surprise 50-point outburst on Halloween night, 2018, while playing for Thibodeau — and alongside Butler, Gibson, and Deng — on the Timberwolves.
Across seven semi-healthy seasons with the Bulls (he was on the roster for eight years, but again didn’t play at all in 2012-13), Rose averaged 19.7 points on 44.8 percent shooting from the field and 81.3 percent shooting from the foul line, 6.2 assists, 3.7 rebounds and 0.8 steals a night.
Rose didn’t enjoy a particularly long prime, but he bloomed bright during his finite time in the sun. For those brief few years from 2008-16, the United Center became a hub not just for the city but the greater sports world. Both the Bulls and Blackhawks boasted the requisite generational young talent capable of legitimately winning championships, after languished decades adrift.
Chicago packed a magical, charmed energy back then — a certain palpable momentum driven by that dynamic kid from Englewood flushing dunks from coast to coast. Those Rose-led Bulls teams had a real chance to bring the franchise its seventh Larry O’Brien Trophy. It doesn’t seem like constructing a roster with any of that intentionality is on the agenda for this current front office.
Derrick Rose represented a special moment in Chicago sports history. And that moment is very over.
The narrative of the hometown kid who made good helped him resonate with Chicago fans like few other athletes have this century. What he has meant to the city might outstrip what he actually managed to achieve. Still, he was great while he lasted.
Now, his No. 1 jersey will last forever alongside legends like Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen in the rafters of the United Center.
The kid from Englewood is going into the rafters. pic.twitter.com/5iAPlVlNtt
— Chicago Bulls (@chicagobulls) January 23, 2026Hence then, the article about derrick rose career retrospective i want to go higher was published today ( ) and is available on Bleacher Nation ( Middle East ) The editorial team at PressBee has edited and verified it, and it may have been modified, fully republished, or quoted. You can read and follow the updates of this news or article from its original source.
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