For fans who actually watched D-Rose in his prime. What was it like?
September 5, 2025
For fans who actually watched D-Rose in his prime. What was it like?
39 comments
Magical my guy, magical
I’m not trying to feel this old today.
Quick striking like a fucking cobra, it felt like we had the one player that could take down LeBron for a time.
Thought we were on the cusp of another dynasty. He was exhilarating and humble. The perfect combo in a player.
He honestly had a shot at going down as one of the three best PGs to ever play the game and the team defense was rockin’.
Full of optimism, a young kid that embodied Chicago that was the opposite of the show queens in Miami made you feel part of the team and proud of it. I just remember thinking it was a dynasty in the making once they got a legit SG and DRose kept getting better….sigh
His ability to finish at the rim is still the thing that sticks out to me most. Never seen anybody else do those things
I had some decent seats behind the basket at United when d rose was later in his career, post knee surgery 2 I think. He cut through the lane between two defenders for the layup with contact and he made it look so easy. Dude had so much balance. My favorite player of all time.
It was awesome. He was explosive. His speed during a break or down the lane with the ball was unparalleled. He had great team leadership and the Bulls rallied behind him. Rose was such a fun player to watch. Plenty of footage out there to watch if you want to see him in his prime.
Every time he drove to the hole the crowd would go ‘ahhh’ or ‘whoaaa’, they would be shocked. He had another level of quickness that no one else I think had
You need to understand that we lucked out on the lotto draft and we sucked since MJ retired in 97. I was watching the era of Randy Brown, Jay Williams, Kirk Hinrich and we were still subpar team. most hyped player before him was Ben Gordon so when DRose came on board, I thought we had a real shot. If he didn’t get injured dunking we could have won it all.
What was he like? A stronger and faster Westbrook if you can believe it. He had the Iverson heart and the JLin aura when it was coming down the line. You just knew he was going to clutch.
Most fun player in the NBA since MJ. I haven’t still recovered from how hes career played out…
If he was in his prime today, no one would question him being the best pg in the league. I’m old enough to have seen mj play and rose was no mj, but he was more exciting to watch.
Special man…just special
This man had explosive athletically, every game he would do something so acrobatic that it blew your mind.
He was too fast, too big, too strong, and too good.
When he would drive the lane it was like a fight in old cartoons where you see a big ball of smoke, arms and legs and somehow a ball would come out of this pile and go in the basket.
The absolute unshakable belief that he was gonna bring the trophy back to Chicago.
The fastest end to end player you’ll ever see.
To be totally honest it was the fucking best. When he was on he was the best player in the league. I was so sad when he got hurt. He deserved to win Chicago a title and he would have.
Amazing.
Feeling like contenders again- having actual expectations, hope, pride. It was very very nice time.
I was a kid during the Jordan era- so winning felt expected. This here with Rose- for us was a return to glory and just massive excitement.
It was special. I had never seen a player go from coast to coast and finish at the rim as magically as he could.
Incredible athleticism
You would actually watch all 82 games no matter what is the best way to describe it and when the playoffs started you always felt like you had a chance….miss those days..
I
Electric. You would sit there with your mouth open and wonder how a human can be so strong, fast and athletic at the same time.
It was like watching a real life superhero doing unthinkable things.
This was a man who scored while being guarded ny prime Wade and LeBron at the same time.
When Rose took off, everyone else moved in slow motion.
For me, after growing up on the 90s Bulls, and then having to endure everything that followed that era, Rose felt like a savior, and the guy that would return the Bulls to the upper echelon of NBA teams once again. It felt like we were back, but then…
This old GQ article always stood out as capturing his other-worldly talents:
“Simply put, Rose does things in midair leaps to the basket that break physical laws of accepted human behavior. To watch those moves in real time is to not do them justice. Rose’s brilliance is such that slow motion is required to understand what, exactly, is going on up there—the same way you need to change frame rate to comprehend fully how a gun fires a bullet or a hummingbird flaps its wings. Rose seems able to control every muscle of his body while in midair: He’s able to move past, over, and sometimes under defenders, almost always drawing contact. And he still finishes the play; Rose spins the ball on layups as if he’s bowling on ice.”
hope.
I was a junior in college when we drafted DRose. The Baby Bulls were solid but getting the no 1 pick really brought the excitement. I watched every single DRose playoff game. I had the opportunity to see Game 4(double OT) against the Celtics live. I went to Game 2 Bulls Heat in 2011 and got to watch MVP Rose against Prime LeBron IN THE PLAYOFFS. I got to see MVP Rose live against Kobe Lakers during the regular season.
DRose being from Chicago, revitalized the Bulls. It felt like we were watching the heir to Michael Jordan but even better because DRose was one of us. He was Chicago in flesh. He was quiet, the living embodiment of “let your game do the talking”. He’s my guy forever. I don’t think I’ll ever love basketball the same way. A part of me died the night he tore the ACL. I think like many Chicago kids, we waited for years for him to return only for the magic to never be the same. I cried when he was traded to the Knicks. I cried when he dropped 50 for Minnesota.
I know in my heart, basketball will never be the same again for me. It was magical, man. Sports has the power to make you believe things you didn’t know were possible. There will never be another DRose for me.
Truly electric to watch. So much hope and excitement and possibility. We were really one player away. I still feel like they tried to make Boozer that guy and he didn’t quite pan out but the right piece next to him with the rest of that great defensive team (and D-Rose staying healthy) and it coulda happened.
He was lighting in a bottle. The player with lots of promise and upside. He never hit his peak, but was exciting.
We had a great coach as well and some good teammates too.
He’s become the most overrated player in Chicago sports history. But he was still very good and exciting to watch.
This is gonna get buried, but we didn’t even see prime Rose. That’s what we were robbed of. Prime D rose would have been legendary. The Heat needed a super team to stop us and he wasn’t even in his prime.
Felt a lil like MJ all over again
In a word? EXPLOSIVE.
A feeling? PRIDE since he was Chicago kid
It was a calming experience, you knew you always had a chance at the end of each and every game.. and youd get 3-4 “WTF that shit was crazy” moments per game. Was such a fun time in Chicago sports
It was the best of times. It was the worse of times
Miss him every year, I just want to believe
He was so fast! Ridiculously fast! Had springs in his legs! He was a very passionate player. We always had a chance when he was on the court. That whole team then was super fun to root for.
39 comments
Magical my guy, magical
I’m not trying to feel this old today.
Quick striking like a fucking cobra, it felt like we had the one player that could take down LeBron for a time.
Thought we were on the cusp of another dynasty. He was exhilarating and humble. The perfect combo in a player.
He honestly had a shot at going down as one of the three best PGs to ever play the game and the team defense was rockin’.
Full of optimism, a young kid that embodied Chicago that was the opposite of the show queens in Miami made you feel part of the team and proud of it. I just remember thinking it was a dynasty in the making once they got a legit SG and DRose kept getting better….sigh
His ability to finish at the rim is still the thing that sticks out to me most. Never seen anybody else do those things
I had some decent seats behind the basket at United when d rose was later in his career, post knee surgery 2 I think. He cut through the lane between two defenders for the layup with contact and he made it look so easy. Dude had so much balance. My favorite player of all time.
It was awesome. He was explosive. His speed during a break or down the lane with the ball was unparalleled. He had great team leadership and the Bulls rallied behind him. Rose was such a fun player to watch. Plenty of footage out there to watch if you want to see him in his prime.
Every time he drove to the hole the crowd would go ‘ahhh’ or ‘whoaaa’, they would be shocked. He had another level of quickness that no one else I think had
You need to understand that we lucked out on the lotto draft and we sucked since MJ retired in 97. I was watching the era of Randy Brown, Jay Williams, Kirk Hinrich and we were still subpar team. most hyped player before him was Ben Gordon so when DRose came on board, I thought we had a real shot. If he didn’t get injured dunking we could have won it all.
What was he like? A stronger and faster Westbrook if you can believe it. He had the Iverson heart and the JLin aura when it was coming down the line. You just knew he was going to clutch.
Most fun player in the NBA since MJ. I haven’t still recovered from how hes career played out…
If he was in his prime today, no one would question him being the best pg in the league. I’m old enough to have seen mj play and rose was no mj, but he was more exciting to watch.
Special man…just special
This man had explosive athletically, every game he would do something so acrobatic that it blew your mind.
He was too fast, too big, too strong, and too good.
When he would drive the lane it was like a fight in old cartoons where you see a big ball of smoke, arms and legs and somehow a ball would come out of this pile and go in the basket.
The absolute unshakable belief that he was gonna bring the trophy back to Chicago.
The fastest end to end player you’ll ever see.
To be totally honest it was the fucking best. When he was on he was the best player in the league. I was so sad when he got hurt. He deserved to win Chicago a title and he would have.
Amazing.
Feeling like contenders again- having actual expectations, hope, pride. It was very very nice time.
I was a kid during the Jordan era- so winning felt expected. This here with Rose- for us was a return to glory and just massive excitement.
It was special. I had never seen a player go from coast to coast and finish at the rim as magically as he could.
Incredible athleticism
You would actually watch all 82 games no matter what is the best way to describe it and when the playoffs started you always felt like you had a chance….miss those days..
I
Electric. You would sit there with your mouth open and wonder how a human can be so strong, fast and athletic at the same time.
It was like watching a real life superhero doing unthinkable things.
This was a man who scored while being guarded ny prime Wade and LeBron at the same time.
When Rose took off, everyone else moved in slow motion.
For me, after growing up on the 90s Bulls, and then having to endure everything that followed that era, Rose felt like a savior, and the guy that would return the Bulls to the upper echelon of NBA teams once again. It felt like we were back, but then…
This old GQ article always stood out as capturing his other-worldly talents:
“Simply put, Rose does things in midair leaps to the basket that break physical laws of accepted human behavior. To watch those moves in real time is to not do them justice. Rose’s brilliance is such that slow motion is required to understand what, exactly, is going on up there—the same way you need to change frame rate to comprehend fully how a gun fires a bullet or a hummingbird flaps its wings. Rose seems able to control every muscle of his body while in midair: He’s able to move past, over, and sometimes under defenders, almost always drawing contact. And he still finishes the play; Rose spins the ball on layups as if he’s bowling on ice.”
hope.
I was a junior in college when we drafted DRose. The Baby Bulls were solid but getting the no 1 pick really brought the excitement. I watched every single DRose playoff game. I had the opportunity to see Game 4(double OT) against the Celtics live. I went to Game 2 Bulls Heat in 2011 and got to watch MVP Rose against Prime LeBron IN THE PLAYOFFS. I got to see MVP Rose live against Kobe Lakers during the regular season.
DRose being from Chicago, revitalized the Bulls. It felt like we were watching the heir to Michael Jordan but even better because DRose was one of us. He was Chicago in flesh. He was quiet, the living embodiment of “let your game do the talking”. He’s my guy forever. I don’t think I’ll ever love basketball the same way. A part of me died the night he tore the ACL. I think like many Chicago kids, we waited for years for him to return only for the magic to never be the same. I cried when he was traded to the Knicks. I cried when he dropped 50 for Minnesota.
I know in my heart, basketball will never be the same again for me. It was magical, man. Sports has the power to make you believe things you didn’t know were possible. There will never be another DRose for me.
Truly electric to watch. So much hope and excitement and possibility. We were really one player away. I still feel like they tried to make Boozer that guy and he didn’t quite pan out but the right piece next to him with the rest of that great defensive team (and D-Rose staying healthy) and it coulda happened.
He was lighting in a bottle. The player with lots of promise and upside. He never hit his peak, but was exciting.
We had a great coach as well and some good teammates too.
He’s become the most overrated player in Chicago sports history. But he was still very good and exciting to watch.
This is gonna get buried, but we didn’t even see prime Rose. That’s what we were robbed of. Prime D rose would have been legendary. The Heat needed a super team to stop us and he wasn’t even in his prime.
Felt a lil like MJ all over again
In a word? EXPLOSIVE.
A feeling? PRIDE since he was Chicago kid
It was a calming experience, you knew you always had a chance at the end of each and every game.. and youd get 3-4 “WTF that shit was crazy” moments per game. Was such a fun time in Chicago sports
It was the best of times. It was the worse of times
Miss him every year, I just want to believe
He was so fast! Ridiculously fast! Had springs in his legs! He was a very passionate player. We always had a chance when he was on the court. That whole team then was super fun to root for.
Went by in the blink of an eye