Even after getting banished from the New York Knicks‘ shortened rotation, Derrick Rose continues his pregame routine at Madison Square Garden every home game.
Of course, he does it to be always ready anytime something happens, and his long-time coach Tom Thibodeau calls his number from near the end of the bench. But at the same time, he’s also doing it as his bonding with his 9-year-old son, PJ Rose, who is looking up to him as he aspires to follow in his footsteps.
His first-born son often joins him in his warmups.
It’s one of the reasons why Rose gravitated to Jalen Brunson and his father, Rick, who was also an assistant coach during his time in Chicago and Minnesota.
“I’m seeing how Rick and his relationship like I’m gaining knowledge from that because my son (PJ Rose), he’s playing. So, I’m picking their minds every day, seeing how they talk to one another, seeing how Rick stands on them, seeing how Jalen speaks back like, ‘no this is what I see,’ you know what I mean? I’m assessing all that and understanding like all right, like I gotta do this [with] my son. I’m taking notes so that one day if I’m in that position, I know how to handle it.”
Rose first met Jalen Brunson in Chicago when Rick used to take his son to the Bulls practice. Though Rose never went to Jalen’s games, he kept hearing about him and the crazy numbers he was putting up in leagues around their state that made him believe he was a future NBA player.
He wasn’t wrong.
“I told Rick, ‘man, you know you might have a player on your hands, bro, like ain’t too many people from around the state coming to have the numbers he’s having, to have the success that he’s having’ and he was laughing it off. You know you don’t want to jinx it. As a dad, I get it now.”
Rose’s time with the Brunsons might be coming to an end soon, as the Knicks have been reportedly shopping him ahead of the trade deadline. But they will always be bonded, not only by their Chicago roots but more especially, by the lessons Rose learned from the Brunsons when it comes to nurturing his own father-and-son relationship with PJ.
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