The Bulls are riding a three-game winning streak and facing a Celtics team that took them to the woodshed just over three weeks ago.
A Celtics team that is also the surprise of the Eastern Conference, playing without All-Star Jayson Tatum (Achilles injury) so far this season, while having bragging rights on having the most efficient offense in the league.
Without question an intriguing Saturday tilt at the United Center. At the same time one that frankly few in the arena and city will actually care about.
The team from Boston is merely a backdrop to celebrate the hometown kid from Chicago, as former Bull and 2011 NBA MVP Derrick Rose sees his iconic No. 1 raised into the rafters and into immortality.
That is what Saturday is all about.
The likes of former teammates like Joakim Noah, Taj Gibson and Kirk Hinrich all there to celebrate Englewood’s finest. Former coach Tom Thibodeau expected back in town. A who’s who of Bulls past and present there for Rose.
Emotion that will be tough for some to put into words.
“Definitely I’m excited,” current Bulls guard Ayo Dosunmu said of the upcoming festivities. “Me being from Chicago and watching him my whole life, I’m just excited to see him and see his hard work being paid off.”
Playing at Simeon, Rose was named the state’s Mr. Basketball in 2007. Dosunmu would have been approximately seven years old. Then the entire city watched Rose go to Memphis before being selected by the Bulls No. 1 and quickly ascending into one of the league’s elite players.
By the end of the 2010-11 campaign, Rose was named the NBA’s youngest ever MVP, despite being eliminated by LeBron James and the Heat in the Eastern Conference Finals that season.
As bright as the shooting star was above the city for four seasons, however, was as quickly as it flamed out, as Rose suffered a torn anterior cruciate ligament in the 2012 postseason run, and while he showed flashes for the remaining four years as a Bull it never felt like vintage Rose.
But for Dosunmu, and many in Chicago, Rose was bigger than basketball.
“He meant a lot,” Dosunmu said. “He gave the city hope and made it so the entire city wanted to watch each and every game. Great playoff series, great playoff memories, and he gave the kids from Chicago belief that if he could do it then why can’t other kids do it.”
Maybe that’s why the Bulls didn’t try cramming the festivities into a 15-minute halftime window. Instead, they will honor Rose after the final whistle between the Celtics and Bulls. Fitting that it will be Boston, since Rose’s first playoff series was a seven-game thriller against the Celtics in 2009 that served notice of his arrival.
That will also allow current Bulls players to come out and watch, as well as coach Billy Donovan.
“It was interesting, he was in the day of the Clipper game (last week) and doing an interview in the practice facility, so I got to spend some time with him,” Donovan said of his relationship with Rose. “There have been some times at night he has come in with his kids and his kids’ AAU team and he’s coaching them and they’re practicing. He is an incredible guy. I know him, but when I listen to Joakim talk about him and how Joakim feels about him, and I really trust Joakim in that way in terms of a teammate and who he is as a guy. To me, my interactions with him, incredibly humble. Very grateful for his time in Chicago. I’m really happy he’s being honored.
“But in terms of just a human being, my interactions with him, unbelievable person.”
