Derrick Rose has me excited to watch the Chicago Bulls again. Really, the whole team has me excited to watch them again. There was a time when saying “I love the Bulls” on the East Coast meant, “I love Michael Jordan.” These days, it automatically gets you a “Why, are you from Chicago or something?” Fortunately, those days are all but over.
D Rose epitomizes what the entire Bulls team is right now: Young and inexperienced, talented and full of potential and damn good. He’s lightning-quick, strong around the hoop, unselfish and, best of all, a humble guy who just seems like he loves playing ball. He hustles back on D. He makes the extra pass. He does all the little things that make coaches use clichés during press conferences. Sure, he’s still a little rough around the edges when it comes to dealing with the media, but, as a fan, that’s definitely better than the alternative, no? And he’s also consistently reaffirmed the belief we had back when we were assembling our third annual NBA Preview in the November 2008 issue of VIBE: That point guards of the NBA are, without a doubt, running the game right now. (YouTube “Ricky Rubio,” too—I’m a little late to the party, and I’m trying to keep this Rose-centric, but he’s coming to the league next year and you’d better be up on him now.)
I also have to give some credit to adidas here. As the official outfitter of the NBA, I guess they’re just doing their job (and keeping the bank account looking right) but they’ve done a good job of keeping their apparel as current as possible this season. After All-Star Weekend, it took them less than a week to come up with the idea for the Nate Robinson Krypto-Nate T-shirts (which, unfortunately, were shelved shortly thereafter when DC Comics stepped in and wanted a piece of the action). Now, they’ve released this official commemorative Rookie of the Year T-shirt for Derrick Rose to celebrate him winning NBA ROY honors earlier this week. Currently available throughNBAStore.com (and the adidas Sport Performance Store in Chicago if you actually are from the Chi) for $19.99, it’s the type of thing you’re gonna want in your closet in 15 years when Rose has three rings, two MVP awards and a Hall of Fame nod. Yeah, Derrick Rose has me excited to watch the Chicago Bulls again. Can you tell?
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