D. Rose - Future Rookie of the YEAR

D. Rose is use to winning!

Back to back high school titles, took Memphis to the championship game his freshman year and now reppin' his hometown of Chi with the Bulls.

Does this mean Chicago will be a contender?

Let's pray they build a team around him!

Englewood’s Roses are Blooming…By: M.L. Mahaffy (SEPTEMBER 2008)

True Star Staff with Derrick Rose

Many adolescents in the below-poverty neighborhoods find themselves in a sense of depression while enduring every day life. This is caused by a drug addiction in the immediate family, having one or no parents, or pressure to do or sell drugs. With all of this to worry about, it is difficult to devote your time to anything else… difficult, but not impossible.

Just two years ago, many Chicago Public School students witnessed Derrick Rose dominate their league completely. He led Simeon High School to back-to-back state championships while leading his team in assists and scoring. And imagine that, he’s from Englewood! Despite leading the city with the most CPS students killed in 2007, Englewood still managed to squeeze out a diamond.

“My mom had to raise four boys. But my brothers are like my father figures in my life.” As Rose acknowledges, he wasn’t privileged with money or even what many would call a “traditional” household, but he had the desire to make something better for himself. Despite the violence and drugs surrounding him, he directed all of his inner anger, frustration, effort, and time to a sport and a dream. It paid off tremendously.

After making history at Simeon, many hoped he would attend college here in Illinois, but that wasn’t the case. He attended Memphis University and led the team in assists and a chance at the title. Although Memphis lost the championship to Kansas, no one doubts that Rose has what it takes to become an NBA All-Star for years to come.

“With the number one pick in the draft, the Chicago Bulls select…Derrick Rose!” That’s right, he comes back home. With a 1.7 % chance to get the number one pick, they get it, and they get him. Unfortunately though, for many years to come, every player added to the Chicago Bulls with any expectations will be compared to Michael Jordan. Although Derrick Rose has extraordinary talent, he can hardly be compared to MJ before he even plays his first game. Michael Jordan made an immediate impact despite the fact that he was a rookie, but that’s Jordan. Still, who knows? In a little while we could be saying the same thing about a man named DR.

At six-foot-three inches, one hundred and ninety pounds, Rose is expected to be a force at the point guard position. The Bulls are looking to make trades in order to fit him in, but they will do whatever is necessary to make the team a definite contender in the Eastern Conference. With point guards like Chris Paul, Deron Williams, and Steve Nash in the league, how will he match up? Nobody knows the answer to that question just yet, but Chicago is behind him the whole way.

This just goes to prove that it doesn’t matter where you come from—it’s all about where you’re going. Derrick Rose is going to the NBA, but I don’t think anybody, especially Chicagoans, will ever forget where he came from. For us, he’s the bar. Every inner-city youth from Chicago will aim toward him, not toward the NBA, but toward a dream. All have them, but few follow them.

So, in September, while the rest of us are returning to school, Derrick Rose will be training and preparing to prove himself to the world in his rookie year. “My goals are extreme—Rookie of the Year, MVP of the league, [and] dominating my position…that’s about it.” The Bulls haven’t seen a championship since the late nineties, and fans are putting all their chips on Rose, straight from Englewood, to put Chicago back on top.

Keyshia Cole "A Life Of Her Own"...By Shannon Smith (JULY 2008)