Chicago Bulls: Stadium debuts ‘Pooh: The Derrick Rose Story’

Family First

One of the biggest themes in “Pooh” is the concept of family, for better or worse. The biggest source of Rose’s inspiration has been his mother Brenda who was a constant fixture in the film and usually the first face you’ll see in support of her son. Proudly showing off Rose’s trophy room she also marvels at the athletic feats her son routinely pulls off expressing her natural motherly concerns for his safety.

While a number of family members are shown throughout the film, aside from Rose’s mother, his oldest brother Reggie was on display as the next big pillar of support in his life. While his intentions were pure and genuine, Reggie was willing to take whatever form or stance necessary to protect his younger brother. “They loved Derrick, but they hated Reggie,” said 670 the Score‘s Laurence Holmes during the film.

Serving as the unofficial mouthpieces for Rose, Reggie at times took unpopular stances which seemed to not always align with the perceived best interest of his brother. However even amongst rumors of his brother possibly affecting his draft stock, Rose was unwavering in his support of his sibling. “If you can’t accept my brother don’t pick me” was what Rose told teams according to Reggie.

Breaking down in tears during the film, fearing he had hurt his brother’s chances in the NBA Reggie admits “I thought I messed it up for him”, but the Chicago Bulls had other plans and went on to select Rose with the number one overall pick.

Rose would soon become a father, which is when the documentary revisited his “graduation and meetings” remarks.

"“I feel I’ve been managing myself pretty good. I know a lot of people get mad when they see me sit out. But I think a lot of people don’t understand that when I sit out, it’s not because of this year. I’m thinking about long term. I’m thinking about after I’m done with basketball, having graduations to go to, having meetings to go to. I don’t want to be in my meetings all sore or be at my son’s graduation all sore just because of something I did in the past. Just learning and being smart.”"

While not what fans and media wanted to hear at the point in time, Rose’s hard stance on family first remained a priority even with his newfound acclaim.