Chicago Bulls legend Derrick Rose opened up on the greatest player in franchise history and arguably the sport of basketball, Michael Jordan, in a recent appearance on Jeff Teague’s ‘Club 520 Podcast.’ Rose made a bold claim that Jordan wouldn’t have become the legend we know him if he had been drafted anywhere outside the city of Chicago.
“MJ wouldn’t be MJ if he played anywhere else but Chicago for his pro career. He would have been a great player anywhere else, but in Chicago, he became the Black Cat. He became MJ in Chicago.”
Rose credits the general culture within the city which permeates its way into sport for shaping Jordan into the player he became.
“Just off the strength of the culture in Chicago, it’s everywhere. The basketball culture is just strong. The expectations of, like, ‘Alright, what are you going to do?’ I guarantee you he had people in his corner like, ‘You just went on vacation. They ain’t going to let you win three more. I bet you can’t.’ That’s what n***** in Chi-Town were telling him. ‘You already won one. I bet you can’t win another.’ That’s what I mean by the culture, being there, that’s what I felt.”
Making arguments like this for historic players is often challenging, as the variables involved in being in a different situation while being drafted can greatly impact the outcome that we know. But for players with the kind of proven ability we saw Jordan demonstrate on the court, it’s easy to say that he would have been as dominant as he was in Chicago as he did anywhere else.
Jordan built the Bulls into a championship-winning franchise, and it’s hard for anyone to conclusively say that his success and the player he became were predicated on the culture of the city he was in. Jordan shaped the sporting culture in Chicago himself since the mid-1980s, something that was established by the time Rose was born in 1988.
Michael Jordan averaged 30.1 points, 6.2 rebounds, 5.3 assists, and 2.3 steals on the Bulls in a 12-year stint interrupted by a two-year retirement from 1993 to 1995. In that time, he won five MVPs, one DPOY, 10 scoring titles, made 14 All-Star teams, and 11 All-NBA Teams. Crucially, he won six NBA Championships with six Finals MVPs, never losing a Finals series in his career and going 6-0.
The Bulls were integral in providing a structure where dominance like that was possible, especially with a co-star like Scottie Pippen by his side for all six titles. However, Jordan could have matched his impact in almost any franchise he went to. He probably wouldn’t win the same number of championships, with some teams promising fewer and some arguably promising more.
The city of Chicago has produced some notable hoopers in the modern era including Jordan’s bitter rival Isiah Thomas, who will have people in his home city root for Jordan over him. Antoine Walker, Anthony Davis, and Rose himself are part of the city’s NBA lineage, though Walker, Davis, and Rose grew up in the shadow of the greatness of Jordan.
The city was crucial in his development, but Jordan was just as crucial in the development of the city and particularly the Bulls franchise, which is one of the most recognizable NBA teams in the world primarily due to Jordan leading them to six championships in 12 seasons.
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