There’s no doubt that Derrick Rose’s career is one of the biggest ‘What Ifs’ of NBA history. He looked poised to take the throne as the best player on earth before injuries got the best of him.
Rose made it to the Chicago Bulls as a hometown kid ready to take them back to the good old days, dominating the Eastern Conference right out of the gate and giving the Windy City hope of winning another NBA Championship.
However, it wasn’t until his third year in the Association that he took a massive step forward, becoming the youngest MVP in NBA history and looking like the biggest threat to LeBron James’ realm in the East.
And, according to former Bulls B.J. Armstrong, part of that leap was due to Michael Jordan’s influence in Rose, as they were in constant communication and he was picking his brain to try and bring the best out of him:
“Every night, it was great that we (he and Rose) would talk and we would try to figure out — or he would figure out — what he had to do to win that game. I kinda learned that, being in Chicago, in particular, I learned it from Michael (Jordan), because he would always challenge me, ‘I gotta find a reason to be my best,” Armstrong started.
“I learned that from Michael because he always found something that was gonna keep him angry and upset. So that season, for 82 games, he (Rose) tried to win every single game. Once I saw him (Rose) do that, then I knew he was ready. I knew he was ready to challenge himself because that’s the fun part, knowing that you can walk out on the floor and win every single time you step out there,” he concluded.
Rose would end up averaging 25.0 points, 4.1 rebounds, and 7.7 assists per game and was the flashiest and most entertaining player in the league, and even though he never reached his peak due to multiple injuries, he’ll still go down as one of the greatest players in Bulls history.
