Derrick Rose

Derrick Martell Rose is a professional basketball player from the United States of America who plays as a point guard. Born in Chicago, Rose went to the Simeon Career Academy in 2003 where he, in his freshman year, failed to make the team due to a long standing tradition by coach Bob Hambric to not place any freshman on the squad.

He led the freshman team to the city championships while repeating the performance with the sophomore team as well, leading the way to a 24-1 record. Hambric decided to make an exception and brought him into the team. Rose was named to the Parade Magazine All-American Third Team in honour of his efforts in taking his team to the State Championship finals.

In 2006, Rose’s junior year, Rose helped the Simeon Wolverines win the Chicago Public League and himself earned some major accolades for his high flying dunks and championship winning performance. Rose then played an instrumental role in bring the Simeon Career Academy their first title since 1984. He was mentioned in the All-State team for Illinois while EA Sports picked him for their All-American Second Team and Parade Magazine gave him another All-American selection.

In his senior year, Rose was ranked at number 5, amongst the top-most prospects in the country, by Sports Illustrated magazine. A fascinating performance against highly rated Oak Hill Academy guard, Brandon Jennings, saw Rose get the USA Today High School Player of the Week award. He would, later in the season, take the Wolverines back to the Public League Championship title to make it the first school from Chicago to win consecutive State Championships.

Rose was named as Illinois Mr. Basketball while also being named to the All-State First Team. He was also named to the McDonald’s All-American First Team along with the Parade Magazine and USA Today All-American First Teams. He was also picked for the Jordan Brand All-Star Game as well as the Nike Hoop Summit.

In 2009, Rose got the incredible award of being named the third greatest high-school point guard for the decade, behind Chris Paul and T.J. Ford.

Rose, controversially, got into University of Memphis after coach John Calipari looked at him through his high school days. The Tigers got off to a roaring start with a 26-0 run to become the top ranked team in the country. With 14.9 points per game, Rose set the courts ablaze, making 4.7 assists and grabbing 4.5 rebounds along the way. Rose saw Memphis through to the Final Four stage of the NCAA tournament and with a win at this stage of the tournament, helped the Tigers notch up 38 wins to record the most number of wins in a season in the NCAA. Although the Tigers lost in the finals, Rose was named to the All-Final Four team after a 20.8 point per game average in the tournament.