Derrick Rose's Jersey Retirement Is a Celebration - and a Wake-Up Call for the Bulls
When Derrick Rose’s No. 1 jersey rises into the rafters at the United Center on Saturday night, it won’t just be a tribute to one of Chicago’s most beloved basketball sons. It’ll also serve as a stark reminder of how far the Bulls have drifted from relevance - and how badly they need a new superstar to lead them out of the fog.
Rose, who became the youngest MVP in NBA history and the face of the franchise in the post-Michael Jordan era, is now retired. But his impact on the Bulls - and on the city - is still very much alive. And so is his voice.
In a recent interview on Chicago sports radio, Rose didn’t sugarcoat where things stand with his old team.
"You need a star. You need a superstar to come change certain things," he said.
"I don’t know where you get that. I don’t know if you draft that.
I don’t know if you trade for that. But whenever you have a team like this, and it’s stagnant and they’re trying to figure out who’s going to take the lead and they’re trying to find that identity, normally a star fixes that problem."
That’s not just nostalgia talking - that’s hard truth from someone who knows what it takes to carry a franchise. And if anyone understands what a superstar can do for a team stuck in neutral, it’s Rose.
Before he arrived in 2008 as the No. 1 overall pick, the Bulls were wandering through the wilderness of the post-Jordan years. Rose changed that overnight. By his third season, he was league MVP, the Bulls had the best record in the NBA, and Chicago had its swagger back.
He wasn’t just a great player - he was a force of nature. He set the tone on both ends of the floor, elevated everyone around him, and gave the Bulls a clear identity: tough, fast, fearless.
That version of the Bulls - with Rose, Joakim Noah, Luol Deng, Taj Gibson, Kirk Hinrich, and a young Jimmy Butler - was a team nobody wanted to see in the playoffs. They were physical, defensive-minded, and relentless. And Rose was the engine.
Fast forward to now, and the contrast couldn’t be more glaring.
Under executive Artūras Karnišovas, the Bulls have been the definition of average. After Thursday’s squeaker over Minnesota, they sit at 186-186 since the 2021 roster overhaul that brought in DeMar DeRozan, Lonzo Ball, and Alex Caruso.
The goal then was to build a contender. Five years later, the result is a flatline: .500 basketball and a revolving door in the Play-In Tournament.
That kind of symmetry isn’t poetic - it’s frustrating. It tells you everything about where this team is: not good enough to make noise in the playoffs, not bad enough to bottom out and rebuild properly. Stuck in the middle, spinning their wheels, while other franchises embrace the long game and reap the rewards of patience and vision.
Rose’s comments cut through that fog. He’s not calling out individuals - he’s calling out a mindset.
The Bulls have been trying to patch holes with mid-tier talent and hoping it clicks. But in today’s NBA, that rarely works.
You need a true star - someone who can reset the culture, change the equation, and give the team an identity again.
And Rose knows what that looks like because he was that guy. He was the identity.
Of course, his time in Chicago wasn’t without heartbreak. Injuries robbed him of his prime and left fans wondering what could’ve been.
But even through the setbacks, Rose never stopped representing the city with pride. He was Englewood tough, a hometown kid who carried the weight of a franchise and gave Bulls fans something to believe in again.
Now, as his jersey takes its rightful place among the greats, Rose is once again offering the Bulls a blueprint - not with his game, but with his words.
The question is: will the front office listen?
Because honoring Derrick Rose isn’t just about looking back. It’s about recognizing what he stood for - and realizing how far the current team has drifted from that standard.
It’s been a decade since the Bulls won a single playoff series. That’s not just a dry spell - that’s a warning sign.
The Bulls don’t just need to celebrate their past this weekend. They need to confront their present.
Rose is telling them what many fans have felt for years: it’s time to stop treading water. Time to find the next superstar.
Time to chase greatness again.
And if there’s one thing we know about Chicago, it’s that the city doesn’t settle for average. Neither should its basketball team.