Reminiscing on 2011 Derrick Rose
In 2011, Derrick Rose was on top of the world when he won the MVP at the ripe age of 22. Now he’s a above average to average point guard that doesn’t really have a certain place in NBA with all the lower body injuries he has accrued. So as a diehard Bulls fan, let us think back to 2011.
At this time, I thought Kobe was better than Lebron, the Heat would beat the Lakers in the 2011 Playoffs, and Gar/Pax wasn’t going to run the Bulls into the ground. Joakim Noah was a DPOY candidate and was not a living meme, Carlos Boozer was a good power forward, Luol Deng was a All-Defensive player and not $72 million richer and not washed up in LA. Omer Asik actually wasn’t the worst player in the league, We also had my boy Taj Gibson (still miss him) and we had the immortal Ronnie Brewer and Kurt Thomas, We had Tom Thibodeau and not the worst coach in the league, Fred Hoiberg. (Side Note: I’d rather have Doris Burke as the Bulls coach) and who could forget the GOAT, the real GOAT, Brian Scalabrine who propped up to the 1 seed with various chest bumps and high fives. We went 62–20 and had the best defense in league and the 1st seed in the East over Lebrons superteam in South Beach. (Eat it, Miami Cheat.) And the ringleader, the NBA’s youngest MVP, Derrick Martell Rose aka my favorite player of all time. You want me to describe what it felt like to watch him play on a day-to-day basis? He was a enigma, a acrobat, a person who demanded all attention because of his fantastic handle, and you still couldn’t stop because he could finish under, over, and around you. So explosive that I don’t need explain let Marv Albert, Reggie Miller and Steve Kerr explain:
So explosive that whenever he dunked I closed my eyes, hoping it wasn’t a gun shot. So explosive he made John Wall look like Spencer Hawes on the fastbreak (Screw you Hawes, but this 2011, so technically this didn’t happen yet.) And he won the MVP, when people said Dwight Howard and Lebron got screwed, but I didn’t care, when I watched him receive it was literally the greatest moment of my life (Narrowly beating him in 2015 when he hit a bankshot 3 GW at the buzzer. although I literally sprained my ankle jumping up and down and we also we were supposed to beat that cursed Lebron James and his new team.) While we breezed through the first two rounds rather easily, we had to face the Miami Cheat in the Eastern Conference Championship, and the future Frozen One in LBJ (At this time, I HATED LEBRON BECAUSE HE WAS A CONSTANT ROADBLOCK IN THE EAST, AND HE AND DWYANE WADE WE SUPPOSED TO BE OURS.)Ever since the Bulls fell out of contention, I have come to respect LeBron and I personally think he’s the second greatest player of all time, but that’s a different story for a different time. When we won game 1 by 21 points I just knew we’d top the Heat because this defensive squad + the 22 year old MVP Derrick Rose was too much. We lost by 10 next game and it was okay for me because I knew this series would go 7 anyway. Lost by 14 next game, I thought ok its ok we’ll be back because the Bulls and Thibs don’t give up that easily. We lost by 8, then I thought we’ll be back because Lebron’s a “choker”. (Again I was a little bit of a LBJ hater at that time.) Lebron finally shut me up with a good play on D-Rose because he decided he was guarding D-Rose in the clutch. And he just missed Korver open for 3. But I was secretly happy because I knew we’d be back to give Lebron everything he can take. Also this give us a excuse to trade for Dwight Howard. Well like Tupac he was phenomenal for a while then flamed out, Tupac because he died, Derrick Rose because his superstar career died too. Whenever I watch old D-Rose highlights, I get wistful and remember when I used to close my eyes because I didn’t want that boom sound to be gunshot when it was Rose. Picture me rollin’.
Thank you for checking out this crappy 2011 Bulls memoir. This is my first article so I’m checking out what I can for the future. If you like this, and you have ideas you contact me on Twitter @Bullsfan323. Also check out my even worse YouTube channel. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCA4onefOoHz8PUh-cAAki4g
Thanks once again and share with friends so they can critique as well. And um, God Bless?
