Derrick Rose’s confusing, convoluted NBA path

Yahoo Sports senior NBA reporter Vincent Goodwill reflects on the former MVP and Rookie of the Year’s career as the point guard retired after 15 seasons in the NBA.

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Derrick Rose may never make it into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame.

He may be the only MVP who won’t make that distinction.

His jersey may not be immediately retired by the Chicago Bulls, the franchise where he won MVP in 2011.

But we will remember all the feelings.

We will remember the athleticism.

We will remember the plays.

We will remember the courage he had when he told us: why not me?

Why can’t I win an MVP?

And he went out and did it and he had the guts to go against Lebron and Dwayne and Chris Bosh and the whole Miami Heat team and do it almost single-handedly.

Of course, there are so many confusing things about Derrick Rose’s ways that he was bitten by his knee injuries, which ended his role in the Hall of Fame.

Six teams he played for.

He almost retired playing for the Cleveland Cavaliers when he was on Lebron James’ team instead of competing against him.

And then there was the 50-point game with the Minnesota Timberwolves where he cried on the floor.

Then of course there were some ugly things, some things that were confusing, not just refusing to play because his body wasn’t ready yet, but the rape accusations that caused many to change their opinions about someone they thought was really healthy.

It didn’t completely tarnish his image, but he changed his game when his body failed him.

He turned into a low-to-the-ground midrange shooter, an experienced player that many young players could look up to and rely on. Like John Morant in Memphis, John Morant is the embodiment of everything.

That should have been Derrick Rose, had his career been completely healthy.

You could actually argue that Derrick Rose’s 2011 MVP was more valuable than Russell Westbrook’s 2017 MVP, in which he averaged a triple double.

You can always say that Derrick Rose is changing his career, with the way he was able to transform into a different player being his biggest achievement, even outside of MVP.

And the fact that he was able to retire quietly and did so with six full-page ads in the franchises he played for speaks to his basketball character and speaks to the way he will be fondly remembered down the line.

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