In the final moments of an otherwise uneventful mid-December Chicago Bulls game, something special happened. With a few minutes left in regulation, fans started cheering for Taj Gibson, a beloved member of the team from 2009-’17, now with the Charlotte Hornets.
With just under a minute to go, the Hornets coach, Charles Lee heard the “We want Taj” chants echoing down from the stands. He looked down the bench at the 16-year vet to see if he wanted to enter the game for the final 57 seconds.
Gibson got up, removed his warm ups and entered the game to a loud ovation from the United Center fans.
“It just lets me know that Chicago just embraced a young kid from Brooklyn,” an emotional Gibson told reporters after the game. “I’m just that adopted son that they was really hard on for a long time, and to get that kind of ovation was very special.”
“I don’t want to tear up, but the city’s just been great to me my whole career, my family. I don’t know what else to say,” he said. “I just love — so many great memories of so many different people in the crowd, all throughout all throughout the city. I was all through this city, from coast to coast, end to end. These people have just been great to me. I’m choked up right now just talking about it.”
It’s been eight years since 2016-17 when Gibson was traded to the Oklahoma City Thunder (to play for then OKC coach Billy Donovan). He’s played on six teams over that time, but none have featured the mutual love that Gibson has for Chicago and vice versa.
“Amazing,” he said of the reception. “Everywhere I looked, I just saw so many familiar faces, even all the way up top. Every part of the court, I see people I grew up around since I moved to Chicago. They got sons, children, grandkids, the full spectrum. Even the youth is calling my name, it’s just special.”
Reflecting on his teams that rose the Eastern Conference ranks in the early 2010s, Gibson said he was too young to fully understand how special those days were: “I was young at the time. We was just living on a cloud because the city’s embraced us so much. We just played hard every night. That was just our motto. And the city got behind us. It was some great memories.”
Now he knows the magnitude of what they built together.
If a random game in December can generate such excitement, it’s not hard to imagine the emotion that will be in the building on January 4 when the Bulls hold a celebration for Derrick Rose’s retirement, which, per KC Johnson, Gibson will attend.
“I expect everybody to scream loud, drop some tears,” Gibson said of his expectations for Rose’s night. “The city has been behind us the whole time. Through ups and downs. So I already can imagine, if I’m tearing up just for this end of the game thing, I know it’s gonna go be crazy for him.”
Not only does he believe Rose’s number 1 should be retired to the United Center rafters, he took it even further: “Of course, without question. He deserves a statue.”
“I’m really just getting goosebumps, just thinking about all the preparation, all the ups and downs. Everybody in that locker room just want to do something special. Just wanted to get to the playoffs. Just wanting to just embrace the city. And years later, as one of the last few guys still wearing a jersey, I’ll tell you, every night I think about it.”
Though they never reached the mountain top, he was part of the most successful group in the post-Michael Jordan era, and that resonates with a passionate fan base desperate for a team that competes for something meaningful.
“If you spend enough time out here, you go to the west side, go to the south side, you see how passionate they are about their basketball and how passionate about their rivalries and how much pride they take in basketball. You’ll understand the city just gets behind underdogs, just gets behind people that just truly goes out there and fights for the logo on the front (of the jersey), not the logo patch on the back. Fight for the logo in front. That red and white. It means a lot, and it means a lot to the city of Chicago.”
Gibson embodied the work ethic, competitiveness, grit, desire, and egolessness that Bulls team played with to reach an Eastern Conference Finals. Now, alongside Rose, Joakim Noah, Tom Thibodeau and more, his legacy is cemented. Just ask the fans at the United Center cheering for him all these years later.
“You can’t take away the past,” he said. “You can’t take away none of those brotherhood moments where we learned how to come in…I’m just blessed. Blessed to wear the red and white jersey.”
