After a phenomenal show during the playoffs against the Boston Celtics, the defending NBA champions, it is no wonder that Derrick Rose was named the NBA’s Rookie of the Year for the 2008-09 season.
Defining his year in game 6 of the Bulls-Celtics series, one of the biggest games of the season, Rose showed his skill by making a clean block in triple overtime against Rajon Rondo to secure the game for the Bulls. It was only one of many of Rose’s blocks, passes and scores, but it highlights Rose’s ability to win games for the Bulls, and to do so in spectacular fashion.
Derrick Rose is not even old enough to drink at a mere 20-years-old, but he has already transformed the Chicago Bulls into looking like the team they once were. In the ‘90s, the Bulls were the crème de la crème of the NBA, a dynasty with stars like Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen and Dennis Rodman who won the team six championships in a single decade. Since 1998, the Bulls have fizzled and been mediocre at best, not even coming close to their previous success until this year.
Rose Returns to Chicago
Although Rose played college ball at the University of Memphis, the star is from Chicago and was the number one pick in the 2008 draft. Rose declared for the draft after only his freshman year at Memphis where he helped the team reach the NCAA championship game.
In his first 10 games with the Bulls, Rose scored 10 points or more every game. He was the first Chicago player to do this since Michael Jordan. In his playoff debut against the Celtics, he scored 36 points, tying Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's record for points scored by a rookie in a playoff debut, and added 11 assists and four rebounds. Not to mention he averaged 16.8 points a game for the year and had a 47.5 field goal shooting percentage. It is no wonder the NBA’s choice of Rose for Rookie of the Year has been received so well.
Chicago Has a New King
With his new title of Rookie of the Year, Rose joins such company as Patrick Ewing, Shaquille O’Neal, Jason Kidd, Lebron James and, of course, Michael Jordan. The player most often compared to a young Mr. Jordan in recent times has been Lebron James, but with Derrick Rose’s extraordinary rookie season and his Chicago ties, he’s now the favorite to become the new king of the NBA.
If the Bulls make it past the Celtics in game 7 of the NBA playoffs, it will be in part to Rose’s terrific block on the last play of game 6. Had Rose not stopped it, the Bulls would have not only lost the series, but lost in triple overtime at home. There is little that could be more devastating than that. Fortunately, the Bulls have in Derrick Rose a player who is only going to get better and, perhaps more importantly, can be the new face of a franchise desperately needing one.
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