Derrick Rose has been a basketball player in the NBA for about eight years, as a point guard for the Chicago Bulls from 2008-2015 and now for the New York Knicks. Fans and professionals have all vocalized their range of opinion throughout the media coverage after the offseason five-player deal trade.
Phil Jackson, the president of the New York Knicks said, ‘This is about a season ahead of us. And Derrick's got a drive in him. I know he's going to want to do well. And we'll cross that as we go along into next year. Yeah, we'd like to have a long-term [deal], and that's certainly one of the great things about it. But there are all the possibilities down the road of what's going to happen to the NBA in the future years.” Phil Jackson’s comment is of great optimism. General Manager of the Chicago Bulls, Gar Forman, also commented on a positive note.
“He was a great teammate who put winning first, and nobody fought harder through injuries and disappointment. He wowed us all when he was on the floor and at his best. His MVP season was one for the ages. We wish Derrick nothing but the best moving forward."
While the manager and president of the teams have had their positive remarks on this shocking trade, Rose had a few words himself.
“I don’t know why I was traded but I would like to tell them thank you.”
“I’m going into a great market,” Rose said. “I’m going into a city where they love basketball-basketball is a culture there, and they love players that play hard. And I think I fit that.”
As a New York native, I can definitely attest to my city’s love for basketball.
Derrick Rose also gave his reply to the many people who questioned his number change; what influenced the number, and why the number 25 was important to him. The number 25 was the number of Rose’s high school’s legendary basketball player, the late Ben “Benji” Wilson. Not only does the number 25 pay homage to a legend, but it makes room for a virtual change in player identity for Rose.
“That 1 number is something in the past. That was a young, raw talent, reckless type player. The player you see now, I’m more mature. My IQ of the game has gotten higher,” Rose stated.
“I’m not coming in with any ego problem and I’m not coming in chasing no stats or anything like that,” Rose said.” I don’t care about my stats. I don’t look at them after games. My job is as long as we win, I can sleep easy at night. That’s the only thing I’m worried about.”
Onlookers have called Rose a “ball hogger”, and an average shooter at that. I wonder if Derrick Rose was referring to his ball hogging tendencies in his comments of being a more mature player and caring more about the team winning than his personal stats. So far the New York Knicks have two wins and three losses with Rose’s stats averaging at about 16.3 PPG (points per game), 2.5 APG (assists per game), 4.0 RPG (rebounds per game), and 15.15 PER (player efficiency rating).So is Rose turning over a new leaf on the court, or has he been retracting from a few of his best attributes as a player? I guess we’ll have to wait and see for the upcoming Knicks games to find out.
