Rahimi, Harris & Grote Show - Our favorite moments from Derrick Rose's jersey retirement ceremony

Episode Date: January 26, 2026

Leila Rahimi and Marshall Harris shared their favorite moments from Bulls icon Derrick Rose getting his No. 1 jersey retired Saturday at the United Center.

The Rahimi Harrison Grody Show, Middays 10 to 2 on Chicago Sports Radio 670 the score. Tage, Tosh, get me crunk, Tosh, get me crunk, man. Chicago! What's up? We put my boy in a rafters. Tage is from Brooklyn, and if you needed any indication, that New York accent was strong on Saturday night. He did a nice job as the hype, man. This is Rahimi Harrison Grotie on 670 to score, and that was former.

or Boltage Gibson as part of the festivities and the ceremony. The honor Derek Rose retiring after 16 years in the NBA and getting his number one hung up in the rafters at the United Center on Saturday night. Not ideal weather conditions. It was a late one. But I think the quality of the game kept people energized to get to that moment. You know why we're here, the people who made their way to the United Center. Yeah, they get the 114, 111, 11 went over the Celtics.

and that's just a precursor to what happened next, which is one of the nights that I don't think the city of Chicago is ever going to forget. No, and I'm pretty sure Kevin Hurtter, after the three that he shot, did the, he emulated D. Rose when he did the stone face lean back. His teammates weren't, nobody grabbed him. No, but he still did it. He still did the stone face lean back. And for that, Kevin Heter, I salute you because somebody paid attention and someone,

in the words of Stacey King got the memo. And that was Kevin Herder, nicely done on the tribute. And that's what this was. This has been, I feel like a, since he announced his retirement overall, it's been a year-long celebration of Derek Rose, going back to the night that he was originally honored at the United Center for his career.

That was 1-4-25. The reason it's easy to remember is those are the numbers he used to wear. There were a lot of Simeon jerseys and Simeon gear in the crowd at the United Center. And that's where this sits with me. The Bulls retiring Derek Rose's number one isn't just about his time with the Bulls.

It was about what he meant to the city of Chicago. And the Bulls bear Chicago's name. They play in this city. So for him to be honored in that way, this is a, if you respect his career and you understand what he meant to this city and how he brought. his play to Chicago in his professional career.

That's a moment that deserves not just to be honored, but to be respected for the entirety of what he has done. To even be drafted by the Bulls was somewhat of a miracle. Depends on if you believe in the frozen envelope theory. But that's kind of the point. Are you a conspiracy theorist? I'm an NBA conspiracy theorist, but that one isn't as big for me as some others.

I do think, though, that this is a celebration of his basketball career, what he meant to the city. You know, when you hear guys like Anthony Davis call Chicago basketball mecca, what that means to them, to be able to honor the career that represents Chicago like Derek Rose has, that's what made this, I think, extra special. The fact that he was only a bull for eight years in roughly half his time, and of course he's the rookie of the year. He's a multiple time all-star. He's ultimately the MVP and did it younger than anyone has done in the history of the NBA. And I had a lot of people asking me because, like, you know, I do social videos and everything else.

And like, well, you know, he didn't win anything. I was like, he won that MVP, did he not? He was, are we going to really make a list of all of the talent in the NBA who played during the time of LeBron James? in his peak. LeBron's in town tonight, by the way. We don't necessarily know if this is his last time in town. That's the segment we're doing later in our show. But this, it doesn't have to necessarily do with what his team won. Yes, he was the league's youngest MVP, and that's a good point. And Jordan, however, are we going to discredit every number that's been retired by another team during the time of Michael Jordan? Scotty Pippen did the intro. Michael Jordan actually had a message of

congratulations, which is rare for Michael to even speak about these things. For this city and for his former team, he did the message for the Ring of Honor. It's good to see him on that videotron, right? Like to see his face represented at United Center, like recently, as opposed to just the statue that sits in the atrium. Well, I mean, I joke that we're going to see the Pope before we see Michael Jordan at a Bears game. Let's listen to MJ's message since we've got it. Derek, congratulations on the retirement of New Jersey. Jersey. Very happy for you. You had an unbelievable career. You really represented the city of Chicago,

Chicago Bulls, your family, and yourself very, very well. So I'm very proud of you and very happy for your special night. Looking forward to coming to the United Center and see your jersey hanging up there with my jersey. Congratulations and enjoy you. It's about what he represented starting in high school for Chicago basketball. I don't know why that's so much. hard for people to understand, but then again, I don't think it's about understanding for them. It's about sticking to one topic and purposefully discrediting the others. That happens every day. But Derek Rose had every reason to have that night. And I love what his mom said in the video to begin with, too. And she was understandably emotional. But when she said, you gave the NBA

16 years, it's time for you to rest. Listen, he gave those pre-injury years in such a way, in such a, I guess violent manner is the best way to describe his physical activity, if you will. He left it all on the court. The motor, the everything. I mean, my favorite part of his speech, by the way, he went 20 plus minutes, 22 minutes, I believe, in total, is him talking about Tibbs who was there. And he was like, yeah, you know physics. I showed you physics. Yeah, that was good.

And I was really impressed with just how he handled the moment, you know, it was emotional. It was authentic. And it really let you into like what he was feeling I felt like in the moment. Remember, this is a guy who had actually seen the banner the day before. And he got emotional even talking about it before the actual ceremony. And still, when it was time, when the horn went final on the Celtics game and it was time for him to do his thing. He and his former teammates, I think Casey Johnson said 25 of them showed up.

That's a lot of love. Yeah, the picture of all of them together on the court took up two tiles on Instagram. They had to spread it out over two posts, so that way it looks coherent on the grid. And that's how many people were there. And we did hear special names. As I mentioned, you know, Scotty Pippen was part of the intro. Michael Jordan had a message of congratulations. Tom Thibito was in a suit.

He was in a suit and he was at the ceremony. Luw Aldang spoke and Derek Rose's family. And that was my biggest takeaway, was hearing him speak to his brother in a way that I don't think gets platformed enough. Everybody in this big, um, Reds, love the way that you're protecting me. Love the way that you took me everywhere, bro. Love the way you sacrificed.

being on the road, New Orleans days, being there talking, me being afraid, and you being there, I appreciate you for that. They don't go and know this. Greedy. You always be in there. Esco get killed. You go and going to the streets. You come home and you tell me, stay away from the streets while you're doing nefarious things. Why are you being a rough one?

You telling me and stay away from it while you're doing it. I appreciate that. That's something that I'll never look over because I could have been used when Stefan down. I wasn't able to go there's filming. I could have been mad when Ma told me I couldn't go. She said that she was going to represent us, and that made me feel like I had a chance

and I could separate myself and be different than the path that you went down because of that. So thank you, Ma. My big bro, my big bro that people don't talk about. I got the best big brother in the world. In the world. My big bro don't cheat. My big bro was with his family the whole life.

My big brother, whenever I needed something, he was there. My big brother, if mama needed something, he was there. My big brother, if mama needs something right now, he's there. Mike, you set the example, bro, as being the big brother, man. That's something as a husband. Now, that's something I thrive to be like you, brother. So thank you. I appreciate that.

I had already had tears the day before after learning about the news about Terry. But to anybody who has a sibling, to have, to say that in front of so many people at the United Center. and the way he did and his brother was visibly moved and had every right to be but that was about in that moment that was about him and his family and I just thought it was

you don't get to hear that like spoken like that in a place like that very often it was moving I found it to be highly appropriate that on a night in which a man whose last name is Rose was set to get his flowers

he ended up giving out some bouquets with his time on the mic and that's when it became clear how he got here you know like how how this rose was able to grow in such a manner through some thorny times it sounds like I mean just the way he framed it pictured it getting to not only becoming a a national star Semyon Memphis and then of course back home with the Bulls. It's a fairy tale. You know, and when he said, take a teammate with you

and what that meant to his team, what it meant to his teammates, you don't think the family inspired that first? And when you hear that, and his kids were crying, that brought tears to my eyes too. It felt like a whole lot of people were crying watching that.

Absolutely. And I want to listen to Lual Dang, and I know we're up against it timewise here. But this is why I think it's important to celebrate. It's not just about the record. Listen to Lou Alding and how he spoke about Derek Rose. I know, I know your name is D. Rose and we carry the rose. But the sign was always there from God that you're going to rise from this city, for this city.

See what you did to accomplish this, right? Took minutes. It took hours. It took days. It took weeks. It took months, years. But this thing, this thing is forever, man. This thing right here, when people talk about all the minutes, all the injuries, everything we went through.

That's our trophy. It's our trophy, man. That's right. I'm so thankful not because of basketball. A kid from Africa from South Sudan. I'm just so thankful that I'm a part of this city. I'm so thankful that I'm a part of this legacy. And no matter what, because of you, because of you,

they will never ever forget us, man. I love you, boy. Coming up next, it's halftime. We decided we got to bring back some old fun score audio for you. So again, thank you to Luwoldang. Congratulations to Derek Rose. And to those who appreciate it, not everybody has to understand.