Why I Love Derrick Rose, and You Should Too!

Derrick Rose put the Bulls back on the map this season. First overall pick, won rookie of the year and played with the Bulls a fantastic first round series that went all the way to 7 games against the defending champs. Some are calling the best first round series ever. (I can live with that. I would prefer calling it the best best of seven first round series ever) These are just some of his accomplishments in his Rookie year.

Still, all his accomplishments of his entire rookie season pale in comparison to his first day after his rookie season. The day after the 2008-2009 Chicago Bulls season ended, Derrick Rose was back in Chicago practicing at the Berto Center!

Why is this a big deal you ask? Well it’s what we always ask our athletes to do. Care and continue to work hard to improve their game.

It would have been very easy for Derrick to take some time off, and honestly who could blame him? He went from a University of Memphis team that played 40 games to a season where he played 89 games. That’s more then double; also, when you include the fact that NBA games are 8 minutes longer then the college game, the additional minutes on the body start to add up.

So Derrick had every reason to be tired and to take a few days off, but he didn’t. He very easily could have followed the path of Bulls teammate Joakim Noah and go back to college for a few days (which didn’t work out to well for Mr. Noah) but he didn’t, he went back to work. He knows he needs to work on his jump shot and that’s what he’s doing. Too often we hear the bad stories, like Noah’s, in sports and don’t praise athletes enough for doing what we as fans want, and expect our favorite players to do.

I for one love the fact that Derrick Rose is back in the gym, and for that reason, I will always be a fan of his.