Chicago Rapper Lil Durk calls himself “The Voice” of Chicago, claiming that he is the one who can speak on what goes on in the city. No one has refuted those claims yet, but when it comes to basketball in Chicago, the voice of Chicago may already be spoken for, and he says the city is most proud of Derrick Rose.
Former Detroit Piston and NBA legend Isiah Thomas went on “All The Smoke Podcast” with Stephen Jackson and Matt Barnes and spoke his mind about Chicago and basketball in that city.
Derrick Rose Is Chicago’s Greatest Basketball Legend
He noted that there are tons of basketball greats to come from the courts of the Windy City and rise to great heights in the NBA such as Dwyane Wade, Patrick Beverley, Eddy Curry, and himself. But the guy that Chicago is the most “proud”, according to Zeke, is Derrick Rose.
“The guy that we’re the most proud of out of Chicago is Derrick Rose,” Thomas said. “He lived all of our dreams. And then he plays for the Chicago Bulls, right? And then he becomes the youngest MVP in the league at 20. C’mon, man, I mean everybody is like, when ‘D-Rose is walking to the room, it’s like fame music be playing.”
While it’s pretty apparent D Rose didn’t need a co-sign from anyone in Chicago to understand that he’s Chi-Town’s prodigal son, it must be a great feeling to know that arguably the greatest player from Chicago admires you.
Zeke is no pushover himself when it comes to basketball accolades, the 12-time All-Star is a two-time champion, NBA Top 75 all-timer and a 5-time All-NBA member as well.
The only knock on Thomas is that he is from Chicago, and he grew up a Chicago Bulls fan and wanted to be a Bull but became a hated rival of the franchise after he was taken by the Detroit Pistons in the 1981 NBA draft with the second overall pick. After realizing he wouldn’t be a Chicago Bull, he had beef with someone who was considered a better player as well.
Zeke Beef With Michael Jordan
Isiah Thomas is famous for his feud with Michael Jordan, and while he had the upper hand on Jordan early in Jordan’s career, MJ would end up dethroning the Bad Boy Pistons of the ’80s and early ’90s and would go on to become the most dominant player of that era.
The Jordan-led Bulls would go on to win six championships, the Thomas-era Pistons only grabbing two. That success also added to the disdain Thomas had for Jordan and the Bulls. This begs the question how much credibility does Thomas have to name the prodigal son of Chicago? Especially when Thomas still has this long-standing feud with Jordan going on.
Regardless of the beef between those two legends, Derrick Rose himself did not pan out long term in his career as many thought he would. His athletic, high-flying playing style caught up to him, his lower body taking a beating from his play.
While he couldn’t stay healthy or maintain his MVP caliber of play for too long, he did make the Chicago Bulls great again for a period of time. He was so good this Bulls team even almost got LeBron James to make the decision to come to Chicago.
According to CJ Watson, players would fake injuries to avoid playing Derrick Rose as well. A lot of people talk about this fear factor when it comes to who’s a great player. This just might help Rose’s case for why he is Chicago’s most loved.
He’s aged gracefully, right now on the New York Knicks. But the 34-year-old will most likely find a new team next year.
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