On Sunday, Derrick Rose was being praised after the Wolves released candid video of him sitting next to a fan battling leukemia and giving him words of encouragement.
Less than 24 hours later he’s under siege from national media after using the phrase “kill yourself” when talking about his doubters.
The poor choice of words were uttered by Rose after Wolves practice on Monday. He was talking about how much it meant to have Tom Thibodeau, who was fired by the Wolves on Sunday, believe in him when no one else would.
Derrick Rose reflects on Thibs: “He was the only coach that believed in me… No teams wasn’t looking for me at all. I was basically out the league. Even coming here, everybody didn’t know I was going to play this way.” pic.twitter.com/IUTz7tEUPn
— Malika Andrews (@malika_andrews) January 7, 2019
Rose actually used the “kill yourself” line twice. The first:
“I have a lot of confidence in myself. Thibs was just the coach that believed in me. He jump-started my career again and for that I’ll always be thankful, but for everybody that think that it’s going to stop, kill yourself,” he said, according to the Star Tribune’s Christopher Hine.
The second:
“Like I said, for everybody that think I’m not going to play the same way, kill yourself, because I believe in myself.”
Less than 30 minutes after his words went viral, Rose issued an apology in a tweet, saying it was a “slang term” that he regrets using.
I messed up by using the slang term “kill yourself” today in response to a question about whether I can continue to perform without coach Thibs. I did not mean it literally and regret using it so I apologize.
— DZY (@drose) January 7, 2019
Either way, Rose should probably know that he’s got plenty of believers based solely on the fact that he was second only to Golden State’s Steph Curry among Western Conference guards in All-Star voting as of last week.
