The last act Derrick Rose performed as an NBA player was in the form of a letter to basketball, discussing the highs and lows he experienced over a 16-year pro career.  And with that, Rose declared his career has ended.  Rose announced his retirement on Thursday. He was the No. 1 overall pick in the 2008 NBA draft by the Chicago Bulls and the MVP in 2011. He was, and still is, the youngest player to win an MVP in NBA history, claiming the award when he was only 22.  “You believed in me through the highs and lows, my constant when everything else seemed uncertain,” Rose wrote as part of his letter to the game, serving as his retirement announcement. He posted the letter online, as well as taking out full-page newspaper advertisements in each of the cities where he played in his NBA years. “You told me it’s okay to say goodbye, reassuring me that you’ll always be a part of me, no matter where life takes me,” he wrote. Rose was the NBA’s rookie of the year in 2008-09 for Chicago, the MVP two seasons later and an All-Star selection in three of his first four seasons. He missed almost two seasons after he suffered a major knee injury, and thought about leaving the game several times due to other injury issues. But Rose always goes back on the court.  Bulls owner Jerry Reinsdorf said Rose “represents the grit, resilience, and heart” of Chicago. “He’s one of the toughest and most determined athletes I’ve ever been around, constantly fighting through adversity that would have broken most,” Reinsdorf said. “Watching him grow from a Chicago Public League star to becoming the youngest MVP in NBA history as a Bull has been nothing short of an honor.” Besides Chicago, Rose also played for the New York Knicks, Detroit Pistons, Minnesota Timberwolves, Cleveland Cavaliers, and Memphis Grizzlies. He spent last season with Memphis, returning to the city that was his home for his one season of college basketball. He played in 24 matches with the Grizzlies last year and when it ended, Rose gave a lengthy speech on what coming back to Memphis meant to him.  “It’s all full circle,” Rose said in April. “Coming back here, having my family here, my wife’s family is from here, being back in this arena, having some of the people that came to my college games actually come to my professional games here, it’s all love.” The Grizzlies in a statement on Thursday, where they congratulated Rose on his career said: “We are grateful for your meaningful contributions to this team and this city, and wish you all the best in this next chapter of life.” Rose battled multiple knee surgeries over the years, taking a break in the 2017-18 campaign to reconsider his future, while dealing with ankle issues. He was absent for almost two full seasons after the knee injury in 2012, in what was his prime.  Derrick averaged 17.4 points and 5.2 assists in 723 regular-season matches. He averaged 21 points per match before the ACL tear 12 years ago, and 15.1 per game in the campaigns that followed. “With D-Rose, it was never a question of his talent,” Basketball Hall of Famer Dwyane Wade, a former Rose teammate, said in 2018. “It was always about his health. And when he was healthy, everyone saw all the talent.” Rose still demonstrated that MVP-level talent many times over the years after his knee troubles. He scored a career-high 50 points for Timberwolves in a 128-125 victory over the Utah Jazz on October 31 2018. That game brought him to tears. He delivered a 12-assist match for the Pistons in a 115-107 victory over the Houston Rockets on December 14, 2019, his first such match in almost eight years.  “I know the person that he is, the character that he has,” Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau, who coached Rose in Chicago, Minnesota and New York, said in 2018 when he was leading the Timberwolves. “And it shines through.” Rose was a strong contender for the league’s sixth man of the year award in three straight campaigns – 2018-19, 2019-20 and 2020-21. He even got a first-place MVP vote again in that 2020-21 season, 10 years after winning that award. Derrick established himself as a star quickly, winning the NBA’s skills challenge as a rookie at All-Star weekend in 2009. He then won rookie of the year and scored 36 points in his playoff debut. It was a meteoric rise for someone who grew up amid poverty in a Chicago suburb, then saw basketball as an escape route and way to take care of his mother and family. In 2006, Derrick hit a shot to win an Illinois state high school championship. Just five years later, he was MVP of the NBA. “The kid from Englewood turned into a Chicago legend,” the Bulls posted on social media Thursday, along with a video of Rose’s highlights with the team.

There was a time when the Memphis Grizzlies were the NBA’s ‘Next Big Thing.’ While it feels like a decade ago, it’s only been a few years. A lot of things happened with the team. Ja Morant got out of line, subsequently costing the Grizzlies their place in the line.  Morant and the team were that connected, as these sorts of combinations often go, and Memphis fell as hard as their star player did.  But let us assume that his 2023 suspensions are behind him, including the injuries that piled up to ruin him and the Grizzlies too. Which brings the questions: Is Memphis a 50-win team again? A top-two team in the West once again? Or a title contender once again? Can the Grizzlies regain all that was lost, after a 27-win bridge year? Maybe.  Morant is a spectacular player just reaching his prime, a unique talent that can carry a squad. Jaren Jackson Jr. is a top defender. Desmond Bane averaged over 20 points in a match last season. Marcus Smart was the NBA’s Kia Defensive Player of the Year in 2022 just before he arrived in Memphis and got wounded, missed much of the campaign, but is now itchy.  The Grizzlies have depth: Brandon Clarke, is terrific at rebounding, also recovering from injury. GG Jackson is still wounded but should come back in three months after foot surgery; he and Vince Williams were answered prayers last term. Zach Edey, if he learns fast, can move in the middle like Steven Adams once did.  So, yes, Memphis has the resources to reintegrate into the West conversation. But the next climb is sloppy. Because of their suspension-and-injury-induced absence from the big stage, other clubs took their spot: Oklahoma City Thunder, Dallas Mavericks, and Minnesota Timberwolves.  The Grizzlies are somewhere in the mix, along with other teams (Nuggets, Suns). Mostly, Memphis are eager to remind everyone about a 202 Western Conference semifinal trip and 107 regular season wins over a two-year span, determined to prove that last year was a pause.  Morant and Memphis on A Mission. That could be their 2024-25 slogan. The Grizzlies are the wildest when it comes to wild cards. Write them in for 50 victories again. But not for Western Conference title.