The line to meet Derrick Rose at the NBA store on Wednesday wrapped around the atrium at Yas Mall, where one fan queued for nine hours just to make sure he would be the first in line to come face-to-face with the basketball legend.
The recently retired guard is in Abu Dhabi to help promote this week’s NBA pre-season games between the New York Knicks and the Philadelphia 76ers, and was given a rock star reception from the massive crowd of diehard fans that greeted him at the mall, and followed him around chanting “MVP, MVP”.
“The people have been great and the experience has been unreal,” Rose tells The National.
Rose announced his retirement a year ago after spending 15 seasons in the NBA. The youngest MVP in league history and a three-time All-Star, Rose was named Rookie of the Year when he was drafted by his hometown Chicago Bulls, where he went on to spend eight years.
Injuries interrupted Rose’s career multiple times, but he is still considered one of the greatest point guards the game has ever seen.
He spent two separate stints with the New York Knicks, most recently from 2021-23, where he reunited with Tom Thibodeau, who had also coached Rose in Chicago and Minnesota.
Rose didn’t just share a close relationship with Thibodeau; he is also tight with star point guard Jalen Brunson, whose father Rick was on Thibodeau’s coaching staff.
Rose and Brunson were on the same Knicks roster for one season but they go way back, with Rose first encountering a young Jalen when he was still in high school, helping out his dad with training activities during Rick Brunson’s time under Thibodeau at the Chicago Bulls.
“I can’t put it into words. I’m so thankful to have him as a role model, as a mentor. That’s my man and I love him to death,” Jalen Brunson said of Rose earlier this year.
That bond is why Rose still keeps a close eye on the Knicks, even in retirement, and the 36-year-old is confident the team can do better than their run to the Eastern Conference Finals last season, heading into the new campaign.
“I love watching their team because of Jalen,” said Rose on Wednesday. “And I think they can go further next year.
“I don't think Boston are going to be the same with Jayson [Tatum] being out [injured] and Miami and all the other teams being a little different. I think that they can make it pretty far.”
Brunson, who has developed into one of the best point guards in the league and a true leader for the Knicks, enters this new season without coach Thibodeau, who was fired over the summer, following New York’s conference finals defeat to the Indiana Pacers.
Mike Brown replaced Thibodeau at the Knicks. Despite the coaching change, Rose is certain it will have no bearing on Brunson moving forward.
“I don't think it's going to affect him at all. You get used to having new coaches,” said Rose.
“Of course, it hurts probably at first when you heard it, but you in the pros now. So things change a lot. He [Jalen] got a new kid. He got a baby girl [born in July 2024]. She's out here somewhere with him and he got to work for another contract. So I know he's locked in.”
Brunson’s famous mantra, inherited from his parents and Thibodeau, is “the magic’s in the work”, and Brown says the point guard’s work ethic is one of the first things that have stood out to him in the little time they’ve spent together during pre-season so far.
“He's a fantastic guy,” Brown told The National of Brunson at Etihad Arena on Wednesday.
“Great husband, great father. He's a big-time family man. He's got a close-knit group of friends he likes to hang with. He's a workaholic. He's constantly in the gym working on his craft.
“It's not surprising how good he is based on seeing what his work ethic is.”
Rose adds that there’s a side to Brunson not everyone sees.
“He's not as serious as you think he is,” said Rose. “He's always playing around, jokester. That's our relationship because I'm older than him. I have a more social relationship with his pops because he coached on Thibs’ staff.
“But with Jalen, he kind of puts me in like a parent box where he talks to me in a certain way. And it's with respect. So I respect that. So when I do talk to him, it's never about nothing negative, it's about some playful stuff. It's nothing too serious.”
Brunson, 29, is very serious when it comes to basketball. He is not taking the Knicks’ strong 2024-25 campaign for granted and insists the team has to build again from the ground up if they want to perform well next season.
While 2024 champions, the Boston Celtics, may be hampered by injuries as Rose suggested, Brunson believes the competition in the East will remain as high as ever, and that no team should be overlooked.
“Honestly, all the teams; you can't look past anybody,” Brunson told reporters in Abu Dhabi.
“This is a very competitive league. You never know what's really going to shake up in the NBA. There's no one we're looking forward to, there's no one we're looking past. It's all about what's next on our plate and how can we attack that. And then once we deal with that, positive or negative, we learn from it and move forward.”
For Rose, there is one team he believes can surprise us in the East this upcoming season.
“Detroit. I still like Detroit, even though the Knicks beat them last year. I still like Detroit,” said Rose, who played for the Pistons for a year and a half starting the 2019-20 season.
“I still like their team. I think if they add an OG on their team, I got to look at that. But I feel like Cade [Cunningham] is going to take another step this year.”
Rose says he’s been loving his retirement life so far and is enjoying spending more time with his kids, who are with him in Abu Dhabi and joined him on a trip to Ferrari World earlier in the week.
“I love being in dad mode. Love getting up not having to worry about competing and taping and being hurt after practice. So I'm in a great place right now,” he says.
Is he ever tempted to come back?
“Never. Not one time. Not one time. Ball roll my way, I kick it. I don't even dribble it. So it's been great,” he says.
