Recently retired NBA point guard Derrick Rose had an incredible run in the first three seasons of his career, but inwardly, he didn’t get to enjoy it.
In his first three years in the league, Rose had two All-Star appearances, One All-NBA First Team honour and was awarded MVP in 2011, becoming the youngest NBA player ever to achieve 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 during that time in his career, Rose was trying to be like Lakers great Kobe Bryant, which he admitted ‘f**ked’ him up.
“But what I was tellin’ y’all at that time, I didn’t enjoy anything,” Rose said on the Club 520 podcast. “I didn’t go out to eat with my family or friends like that. No movies like that – none of that. No concerts, because I was totally locked into thinkin’ that I had to follow what Kobe was doin’, thinkin’ Kob as not enjoyin’ hisself, not goin’ on vacays, not doin’ any of that. So, I felt tricked in a way — whenever at the time I felt that way. My fourth year I ended up goin’ to the Philippines with him. I saw him relax. I’m like, ‘Oh, you motherf**ker was trickin’ me this whole time. I dedicated three years – three years of thinkin’ you didn’t do sh*t.’ And to see you actually out here just chillin’, it kinda f**ked me up.”
Unfortunately for Rose, he never had as good a run as those first three years of his career, due to various injuries hampering him. His production was never the same, and he will certainly go down in NBA history as one of the biggest what if’s.
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