Derrick Rose, the former NBA basketball player, was a guest at the “Adidas NBA Eurocamp” in Treviso and spoke to Basketball Sphere.
*From a special Basketball Sphere correspondent in Italy
Three times in his career he was an All-Star, he won the NBA Rookie of the Year award in 2009, and in the 2010/2011 season, at just 22 years old, he became the youngest MVP in the history of the world’s best league.
He played 723 games in the NBA with an average of 17.4 points, 5.2 assists and 3.2 rebounds per game, and one of the biggest “WHAT IF” questions in NBA history refers precisely to “the Rose that withered too early.”
The reason for this is numerous injuries, the biggest blow to his career being the anterior cruciate ligament injury during the 2012 playoffs against the Cleveland Cavaliers. Everyone then asked why Derrick Rose was even on the court with the score at 99-87 for the Chicago Bulls with less than two minutes to go, but that’s another story…
Claim Now He was also a member of the United States national team and won two gold medals, both times at the FIBA World Cup (2010 in Turkey and 2014 in Spain).
For our portal, he answered a question related to European players who make a significant difference in the NBA caravan, namely Nikola Jokic, Giannis Antetokounmpo, and Luka Doncic. He described in detail why each of the three mentioned adapted to the world’s best league without much difficulty.
“I think each of them is special – Nikola Jokic, Giannis Antetokounmpo and Luka Doncic. There is only one difference when it comes to basketball here and there, that is, in Europe and in the United States. It’s just the physicality in the game.
Each of the three has learned how to deal with it and how to adapt their game to physically demanding challenges. Once you face it and adapt, then the game is ‘softer’ in the NBA. Adapting means pulling back in some details, such as my aggressiveness in the game. I think I can change that, especially when you play in the NBA and then come back again, perhaps the best example of all this is the Olympic Games.
It’s harder for us at the Olympic Games when we come from the NBA, the level of physical play is much higher here. The referees told us that, and they are different. Obviously, they are closer to the European players. I guarantee you that when players from Europe go to the NBA, the game is easier for them in that parameter than here, because, first of all, it is much easier to get to the free-throw line.
In Europe, they really have to foul you to get to the free-throw line, while in the NBA, the feeling when attacking the basket in that context is much gentler when awarding personal fouls. I think it’s much easier for them to adapt because after playing here with a lot of physical play and contact, the NBA is a bit easier to master in that regard,” said Derrick Rose for Basketball Sphere.
He announced his retirement from basketball in September 2024, and the Chicago Bulls plan, where he left the biggest mark in his career, is to raise his jersey with the number “1” under the arena’s rafters during the 2025/2026 season.
