Recently retired NBA point guard Derrick Rose had an amazing run in the first three seasons of his career, but inside, he wasn’t happy about it.
In his first three years in the league, Rose made two All-Star appearances, a First Team All-NBA honor and was awarded the MVP in 2011, becoming the youngest NBA player ever to win such honors.
Rose averaged 25 points, 4.1 rebounds, 7.7 assists per game during his MVP season (2010-11) on 44.5 percent shooting from the floor and 33.2 percent from three-point range.
But at that point in his career, Rose was trying to match Lakers legend Kobe Bryant, which he admitted ‘f**ked’ him up.
“But what I’m telling you at the time, I wasn’t happy about anything,” Rose said on the Club 520 podcast. “I didn’t eat like that with my family and friends. There are no such movies – none of that. No concerts, because I was completely locked into thinking I had to follow what Kobe was doing, I think Kobe wasn’t enjoying himself, not going through the cracks, not doing any of that. So, I felt kind of cheated – whenever I felt that way. My fourth year I finally went to the Philippines with him. I saw him relax. I’m like, ‘Oh, you motherf**ker’s been fooling me this whole time. I gave myself three years – three years of thinking you didn’t do sh*t.’ And to see you out there being so cool, it just pissed me off.”
Unfortunately for Rose, he never ran as well as those first three years of his career, due to various injuries hampering him. His production was unmatched, and he will surely go down in NBA history as one of the greatest what ifs.
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