Derrick Martell Rose

born October 4, 1988 is an American professional basketball player who plays for the Chicago Bulls of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The 6 foot 3 inch point guard had the 11th best selling jersey in the league the past season.

Born in Chicago, Illinois, Rose won two state championships in high school and was rated by scouts as the top point guard prospect after his senior year. He decided to play basketball for the University of Memphis Tigers and reached the NCAA National Championship Game in 2008. Shortly after his freshman year ended, Rose declared for the 2008 NBA Draft and was selected first overall by his hometown team, the Chicago Bulls. In his first year of professional basketball, Rose led the team (and all rookies) in assists and was voted the Rookie of the Year and an unanimous pick to the All-Rookie Team as the Bulls returned to the playoffs. Chicago then fell to the Boston Celtics in seven games.

In 2003, Rose enrolled at Simeon Career Academy and played freshmen and JV basketball in his first year of high school. He wore #25 in honor of "Benji" Wilson, a 1980s Wolverine player who was murdered by a gang member. Rose wasn't allowed on varsity due to a long-standing tradition that head coach Bob Hambric, who had been with the school since 1980 had; no freshman on the varsity team. That rule didn't lessen Rose's play and he went on to put up 18.5 points, 6.6 assists, 4.7 rebounds and 2.1 steals per game and led both the freshmen and sophomores to city championships with a 24–1 record. Hambric softened his stance and allowed the freshman a chance to play on varsity in the state tournament, but Rose declined, wanting the players to get due credit. The next year Hambric retired and Robert Smith was hired, opening the path to varsity. In Rose's much-publicized debut, he had 22 points, 7 rebounds and 5 steals over Thornwood High School in a sold-out game filled with college scouts and coaches. He led the Wolverines to a 30–5 mark, while averaging 19.8 points, 5.1 rebounds, 8.3 assists and 2.4 steals but lost in state regionals. Rose's play garnered him his first national award: a Parade Third Team All-American spot.

During his junior year in 2006, the Simeon Wolverines broke through and won the Chicago Public League championship held at the United Center. Rose earned rave reviews with 25 points and crowd pleasing dunks. The team went to the Class AA state championship against Richwoods High School, where a fourth quarter buzzer beater by Richwood forced overtime. The score was knotted at 29 late in the extra period when Rose stole the ball and buried the game winning jumper with 1.5 seconds remaining. The title was the Simeon's first since 1984. The Wolverines finished up 33–4, nationally ranked,and Rose was awarded with an All-State Illinois mention, EA Sports All-American Second Team pick and another Parade All-American selection

Entering his senior year, Rose was ranked a top five prospect in the nation after strong summer performances at various camps. The season highlight was a nationally televised contest on ESPN against Virginia perennial power Oak Hill Academy in January 2007. Matched up with hyped junior guard Brandon Jennings, Rose had 28 points, 9 assists, and 8 rebounds and held Jennings to 0 points in the first three quarters, 17 overall in a 78–75 win. For his performance, USA Today named him their high school player of the week. Simeon went to repeat as Public League champions and went on to defend their state championship, defeating O'Fallon High School 77–54. In doing so, Simeon became the first Chicago Public League school to win two straight state championships. In his final high school game, Rose scored 2 points, but pulled down 7 rebounds and totaled 8 assists. The Wolverines ended the season 33–2 and ranked 1st in the nation by Sports Illustrated and 6th on USA Today's Super 25. Rose averaged 25.2 points, 9.1 assists, 8.8 rebounds and 3.4 steals.
Overall, Rose's career record in high school was 120–12. After his senior year, Rose was again All-State after being named Illinois Mr. Basketball and was named to the McDonald's All-American team. He was also awarded with First Team honors by Parade selection and USA Today and USA Today First Team All-American. He also played in the Jordan Brand All-Star Game and Nike Hoop Summit. In 2009, he was named to RISE magazine's all-decade team.
College

Rose accepted a scholarship to play for the University of Memphis Tigers under John Calipari, who recruited him after seeing the high schooler cry in a AAU game.[25] Strong efforts were made by the Indiana University and in-state University of Illinois to sign Rose to their own programs. Illinois in particular planned to pair Eric Gordon and Rose together. Gordon however retracted his verbal commitment, opting to play for Indiana and Rose subsequently gave his verbal commitment before the start of his senior season. Rose chose Memphis because of the school's history of putting players in the NBA and the prospect of Rod Strickland, a 17 year veteran of the league, of mentoring him. Rose switched to #23, unable to wear his customary #25, retired in honor of Penny Hardaway.

With the addition of Rose and veteran teammates Joey Dorsey and Chris Douglas-Roberts, the Tigers started out the season ranked third in the nation. Memphis sprinted to a 26–0 start and claimed the number one ranking in the country for the first time in over 25 years before falling to the University of Tennessee Volunteers 66–62 in February. Memphis was able to bounce back and capture the Conference USA Tournament to qualify for the "Big Dance" at a 33–1 record. Rose averaged 14.9 points per game, 4.7 assists and 4.5 rebounds per game during the regular season and earned All-American Third Team honors among others. He finished as a finalist for the Bob Cousy Award as well as the John R. Wooden Award.

Memphis was ranked as a No. 1 seed in the South Region and blew out most of their competition their way into the Final Four. Rose earned high praise for his increased focus on defense, hounding Texas Longhorn guard D.J. Augustin into a low-percentage game in the Elite Eight. In a match-up against the UCLA in the Final Four, Rose finished with 25 points and 9 rebounds while applying tight pressure on Bruins' point Darren Collison to lead the Tigers to the the NCAA championship game against the University of Kansas Jayhawks with a 85–67 victory. The win set a NCAA mark for most wins in a season (38). Against Kansas, Rose scored 17 points on 7–17 shooting, grabbed six rebounds and dished seven assists, but missed a critical free throw at the end of the 2nd half and fell in overtime 75–68. Memphis concluded the season 38–2. He was named to the All-Final Four team after averaging 20.8 points, 6.5 rebounds and 6 assists during the tourney.
On April 15, Rose declared for the 2008 NBA Draft.

Rose was selected first overall in the draft by the Chicago Bulls, an unlikely event considering that Chicago had only a 1.7% chance of capturing the top pick in the draft lottery held that past May. He was selected to the U.S. Select Team to scrimmage and prepare National Team for the Olympics in Beijing. Jay Triano praised him for going against the veteran All-Stars and Rose credited the experience for preparing him for the professional grind.[44] In mid-July, he played two games in the Orlando Pro Summer League until forced out by tendinitis in his right knee, ending his summer. In October, Rose played in all eight games of the preseason.

He started his rookie year strong, becoming the first Bulls draftee to score 10 points or more in his first 10 games since Michael Jordanand eventually earned Eastern Conference Rookie of the Month honors for November by averaging 18.9 points and 6.1 assists on nearly 50 percent shooting. He followed up by winning the award for December, highlighted by a 20-point and 13-assist game against the New Jersey Nets. Rose participated in February's All-Star Weekend events. In the Rookie Challenge, he scored 4 points and led the rookies in assists with 7. He was also invited to the Skills Challenge where he beat out several All-Stars to become the first rookie to claim the trophy.

Overcoming a mid-season slump, Rose returned to form and won monthly rookie honors in March. Meanwhile, the Bulls, re-engerized by the trade deadline acquisitions of John Salmons and Brad Miller, finished the regular season on a 12–4 squirt to qualify for the 7th seed in the Eastern Conference. Chicago's late push contributed to Rose winning the NBA Rookie of the Year, joining Michael Jordan (1985) and Elton Brand (2000) as the Bulls to do so. He averaged 16.8 points on 47.5% field goal shooting, 6.3 assists and 3.9 rebounds per game and was also named to the NBA All-Rookie First Team.

In his playoff debut against the defending champions Boston Celtics, Rose recorded 36 points on 63% shooting, 11 assists and 4 rebounds as the Chicago Bulls defeated the Boston Celtics in a 105–103 overtime win. The 36 points tied Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's NBA record for points scored by a rookie in his playoff debut and also became just the second player in NBA history to record 35 points and 10 assists in his playoff debut. For the rest of the series, he remained at a high level, but was overshadowed by the emergence of Celtics guard Rajon Rondo. The Celtics would defeat the Bulls in seven games.