Former NBA guard CJ Watson says players feared Derrick Rose in his prime
Derrick Martell Rose, aged 34, plays basketball professionally for the New York Knicks of the NBA. He spent one season with the Memphis Tigers of the NCAA basketball tournament before being selected first by the Chicago Bulls in the NBA draft in 2008.
In 2009, he was recognized as the NBA’s Rookie of the Year, and in 2011, at age 22, he set a record by being the league’s Most Valuable Player.
Rose went to Simeon Career Academy and grew up in Chicago. He had several scholarship offers but settled on the University of Memphis to play for John Calipari. Under Rose’s direction, the Tigers compiled the most victories in NCAA history (38-2), achieved their first No. 1 rating in 25 years, and reached the NCAA title game.
Derrick Rose, a guard, used to be one of the finest players in the NBA and one of the league’s most unstoppable forces. Some Chicago Bulls fans may forget the monstrousness of Derrick Rose in his heyday. After all, the local hero hasn’t been the same since tearing his ACL in the last seconds of an NBA Playoff game over a decade ago.
Since the Bulls acquired Watson on July 21, 2010, he could see Derrick Rose at his peak. In the 2008 NBA Draft, Rose was selected first overall. After being named the NBA’s Rookie of the Year, he made his first All-Star squad in his second season. Then, MVP Derrick Rose arrived.
Even in his first two seasons in the NBA, D-Rose stood out as a top performer. In contrast, he excelled in the 2010-11 season. In 81 games that season, Rose set personal bests in scoring (25.0 ppg), rebounding (4.1 RPG), assisting (7.7 apg), and stealing (1.0 SPG). At 22, he became the youngest player in NBA history to earn the Most Valuable Player title after leading the Bulls to a 62-20 record that season, the best in the league.
Derrick Rose’s injury problems began in earnest the following season when he appeared in only 39 of a reduced 66 games. He was nevertheless selected for the All-Star squad, and the Bulls went on to finish with a league-best 50-16 record. But that was before Rose suffered an ACL tear in the first game of the Bulls’ first-round playoff series against the Philadelphia 76ers.
But before he hurt his knee, he was an athletic marvel who could erupt for huge dunks and run the floor at lightning speed. In his first four years with the Memphis Grizzlies, Ja Morant has shown many of the same characteristics as a young Rose.
Rose has been a solid rotation player for the high-flying New York Knicks for the last few years. His career may be coming to a close, as he is now averaging 5.6 points in 12.5 minutes a game on 38.4 percent shooting from the field and 30.2 percent from outside the arc.
However, Derrick Rose’s former Bulls teammate CJ Watson still recalls how intimidating Derrick was on the floor. According to Watson, some opponents even faked illness to avoid playing against Rose because they were terrified by his athleticism.
In January 2021, John Lucas III and Gilbert Arenas discussed the “Rose Flu.” When asked about its existence a few years later, Watson said that he had seen it first-hand on several occasions, namely when Rose was scheduled to play.
“When I signed with Chicago, I’ve never seen players run from other players or guard certain players. Like Lucas said, having the flu and is supposedly sick because they don’t wanna guard D-Rose. It happened; he was playing at an unbelievable clip that year.” Watson said.
More Entertainment News:
Derrick Rose 2022 – Net Worth, Salary, Records, and Endorsements