The 20-year-old Derrick Rose once put up a 20/6/6 stat line, including a 36-point Game 1 explosion. The record which he tied with the great Kareem Abdul-Jabbar for the most points scored in a rookie playoff debut. And witnessing the journey of the young Rose in the same conference was Kevin Garnett. Now, after 16 years in the league, ‘D-Rose’ has hung the curtains on his career. Certainly, KG was amongst the many who shared the honor of facing the Bulls star, and now he is celebrating the Knicks icon.

“Wanna shout out D-Rose man, great career brother. It was honor to share the floor with you bro, you one of the greatest to do it man. Just want to say big up on a 16-year career man, You sh*t.” Kevin Garnett also captioned his IG story, “@Drose Salute General 🫡💯.” Before this story, the Celtics legend also shared a podcast clip, from a former teammate of Rose to show appreciation.

“Salute General 🫡🤝💯, @Drose..One of the greatest to do it 🫡💯.” The clip was from his podcast, where Joakim Noah, partner for Rose from ’09 to ’15, narrated the qualities of rookie Rose through an incident. The Bulls were up against the Suns and the coach Vinny del Negro, as per usual tasked the team’s pick-and-roll defender, Kirk Hinrich, to defend one of Phoenix’s main players.

Steve Nash was already 2x MVP by the time. And Noah reiterated the scene where Rose stood out, “Yo, Kirk you got Steve Nash.’ And Pooh’s like ‘Nah, I got Steve Nash. I’m the point guard I’m not running from no matchup!‘”

Not to forget, Nash is also part of the 50-40-90 club and the only player to achieve that status 4 times. Yet, Noah recalls how focused Derrick Rose was, “The whole locker room quiet as hell but that’s the kind of guy Pooh was in like who was not taking no for an answer and that’s as a rookie.” Similarly, even Kevin Garnett recalled a story once of the 2009 Rookie of the Year.

Kevin Garnett had the utmost respect for Derrick Rose

Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett were once discussing the Bulls and Celtics rivalry and ‘The Truth’ said “Derrick Rose vs Rondo tho!” KG was ready to give flowers to Rose and said, “Classic Sh*t bro…He [D-Rose] was a problem from day one man…He was built for it…[The series] was a dogfight. D-Rose actually thought, ‘Man, I could beat these guys by myself.“

The same also showed in the ‘Windy City Assassin’s’ performance, scoring 36 points against the Celtics in a 105-103 win. Apart from his ability to score, Paul Pierce was enamored by how Rose pulled it off. He said, “I ain’t never seen a point guard that athletic, though. When he did, one of them game, he did the dunk on the breakaway. He rocked it and cradled it and then dunked it. I was like, ‘Whoa, point guards is doing that now?'”

In the 7 game playoff game, he averaged 19.7 points while shooting 47.5% from the field. Plus, his contribution also included 6.3 dimes and 4.9 rebounds in the series. But being the better team, the Celtics eventually won 4-3. So Rose’s overall contribution on the court and off the court made even the rival Kevin Garnett his fan.

“Stay tuned for more such updates and join us for the exciting second episode of the “Dual Threat Show” as our host BG12 sits down with Georgia Bulldogs star and Mountain West All-Freshman Team Selection, Asia Avinger.”