Despite the injuries that have derailed his career, Derrick Rose remains one of the more distinguished NBA players of his generation.
Rookie of the Year in 2008-09. MVP in 2010-11 at the age of 22, the youngest to ever win the award. Three-time All-Star. A Hall of Famer in the making by his fourth NBA season.
Then he tore his ACL in the first game of the 2012 playoffs, the first of several knee injuries that reduced Rose to 'what if's' and 'if only's,' an all-timer who never was. Seven years and a few surgeries later, he's out to prove he's still got it.
Rose liked the look of the roster, especially the depth. He liked the idea of reuniting with his former agent Arn Tellem, now a Pistons exec. And as crazy as it might sound, he liked his chances in Detroit of filling the one hole on his resume.
"With everything that’s going on, I’m just looking for a comfortable spot to play and just the opportunity. Here is that," Rose said at Pistons media day on Monday. "I’ve got all the accolades in the past. I’m past that. Now I want to win. The only thing on my resume that I’m missing is a championship.
"Being here, seeing what happened last year with the Raptors in the East, me being in the West and coming back to the East, I feel like you never know what can happen."
Coming off a 41-41 season in which they were swept in the first round of the playoffs, the Pistons don't look like much of a threat this year. Rose, who turns 31 this month, isn't into that line of thinking.
"That’s in the past. You can never dwell on it or have your brain in default mode over last year," he said. "It’s a new year, we have new people on the team and you have to have expectations and goals. The goal is to do better than last year. We’re not going to make it very complex. It's simple, but it starts with everybody having that common goal."
In Dwane Casey's offense built around the three, Rose will have a chance to show how he's evolved. And he believes he has another level to unlock.
"It’s all about just playing in the right system," he said. "I feel like I’ve been playing the same way the last three years since I left Chicago. I averaged 18 (twice, by the way) and it just went under the (radar), where nobody really recognized it, nobody even really paid that much attention to it. But I feel like I’m a better player now. I’m more poised, I’m shooting the 3, I’m more efficient.
"It’s just that people love to see the reckless side, the reckless way that I played. And the reckless way that I played led me to my injuries, I believe."
Just a few years ago, Rose was resistant to embracing the modern NBA game. He signed with the Knicks in 2016, his first stop after the Bulls, and shot less than one three-pointer per game. He said he was "stubborn." But his evolution took off last season in Minnesota. Rose took 2.9 threes per game, while continuing to attack the rim the only way he knows how, and proved he can still be a difference-maker in a league he once held in the palm of his hand.
It puts him in an interesting position as he enters his 11th NBA season, at once trying to be different and the same, to change with the game and stay true to himself.
"It’s all about adapting as a player and learning with the league," he said. "The perfect example I look at is Kobe. He came in just straight athletic, didn’t shoot jump shots like that, and he evolved with the game. That’s how he was able to adapt over the last 20 years. Didn’t change his game totally, but adapted in a way where he was able to fit in and stand out.
"With me, I didn’t take that many 3’s last year, but the ones I did take were good 3’s. It's about being smart and learning the game."
On top of that, Rose is excited for the opportunity to be a mentor in Detroit for the players around him.
"I’m trying to grow as a leader and as a person," he said. "Me coming here, one of my goals is to be vocal in the locker room, because by nature I’m a quiet person. For me to take another leap, it’s about being vocal, helping the young guys out with situations they’re not used to and just trying to find common ground with everyone."
Who knows what the season has in store for Rose and the Pistons. Maybe his knees will hold up, maybe they won't. Maybe the team will take another step forward, maybe it won't. Maybe, if everything breaks right, the Pistons will surprise some people in the East.
But Rose adds some undeniable intrigue and a story to root for, which this tired chapter of Pistons basketball could certainly use.
"Derrick is still a very good basketball player," said Blake Griffin, who was McDonald's All-American teammates with Rose way back in 2007. "His run in Chicago was special. To do it at that age, still the youngest MVP ever. Everything he did was at a higher level than everybody else. He was great for the game of basketball, is great for the game of baseball.
"Even today you see how many people are still pulling for him and how many people respect him, and he will be great for us as well."