"Thank you. I remember coming to training camp saying that I wanted to be MVP. I wasn’t trying to be cocky at all. I knew that I put a lot of hard work in in the summer and the offseason, and I just wanted to push myself and that was about it.
But I want to give thanks to a lot of people. First, I want to thank God for giving me the ability to go out there and play the way that I’m playing. And I want to thank the NBA, of course, for giving me this award because it means a lot and it means a lot to the city of Chicago and the Bulls organization. I want to thank my teammates and the coaching staff because without you all I would not be up here talking to you all right now. You all push me every single day, making sure that I play hard and play with passion and play team basketball. And I want to thank the ownership and management for picking these guys, because they’re all good guys and we wouldn’t be doing as good if we didn’t have these guys on the team. And we love each other.
And I want to thank my trainer, Rob McClanahan - he’s not here right now - but he was the reason why I pushed myself every single day, waking me up, two-a-days, going in at night shooting the ball, just getting up shots, and it means a lot.
And this person probably don’t want me to say his name, but (agent) B.J. (Armstrong). B.J. is like family. I don’t look at B.J. like an agent. I look at him like he’s my fourth brother and it means a lot and he means a lot to my family. And I want to thank my agency because they’re family, too.
I want to thank my family and friends because y’all the ones that pushed me every single day, making sure that I’m staying on the right path, staying with me, friends waking me up in the morning making sure I get to practice. Just staying on the right path and doing everything right and I’m blessed to have you all in my life.
And last but not least, I want to thank my mom. (pauses) Brenda Rose, my heart, the reason that I play the way that I play. Just everything, just knowing the days that I don’t feel like going into practice or I’m having a hard time, I think about her when she had to wake me up, go to work and just making sure that I’m alright and making sure the family is alright. Those are hard days. My days shouldn’t be hard because I love doing what I’m doing and that’s playing basketball. So, you keep me going every day and I love you and I appreciate you being in my life.
And I want to thank my fans, city of Chicago, fans all over the world and the people that laid down the foundation before us like the Scottie Pippens, the Michael Jordans, and all the other players because without them our fan bae wouldn’t be as big as it is right now. It feels good going into other arenas and you’ve got half the crowd on your side to tell you that you’re doing a lot and it makes you feel good as a player, especially being in this organization. I’m happy that you all picked me and I’m going to try my hardest to play the game like I know how to play it, and that’s hard. And I love you all. Thank you."