Derrick's Bio
Derrick Martell Rose was born on October 4, 1988 in Chicago, Illinois. Derrick goes by the nickname “Pooh,” which was giving to him by his grandmother based on his resemblance to Winnie-the-Pooh as an infant. Now, Derrick has a tattoo of the words “The Great Poohdini” framing an image of a wizard holding a staff in one hand and a basketball in the other. Derrick grew up in a neighborhood called Englewood on the southwest side of Chicago. He attended Beaseley Academic Center for elementary school. It was on the courts of Beasley where Derrick began to turn heads with his basketball skills that were way beyond his age. From a very young age, Derrick was shielded from trouble by a protective family who knew he had a bright future in basketball.
Derrick played his high school ball at Simeon Career Academy. There, Derrick began making a name for himself throughout the Chicago area and eventually on a national level. He led Simeon to back to back championships, a feat that had never been done before by a public school team in Chicago. In his senior year, Derrick carried his team past then #1 ranked Oak Hill Academy, scoring 29 points, dishing out 9 assists, and grabbing 8 rebounds. It was Oak Hills’s sole loss on the year. For his effort against the nation’s top team, Derrick was named USA Today’s national high school player of the week. However, that was just the first of many honors Derrick would receive that year. After a senior season in which he averaged 25.2 points, 9.1 rebounds, 8.8 assists and 3.4 steals, Derrick was about to get handsomely rewarded.
At the season’s end, Derrick was named Illinois Mr. Basketball, a prestigious award previously won by NBA players Kevin Garnett, Eddy Curry, and Shaun Livingston. That same year he was selected to play for both Team USA in the Nike Summit Game and for the West in the McDonald’s All-American Game. These two tremendous honors proved to be huge successes for Derrick as the USA Junior National Select Team defeated the World Select Team 100-80 and the West took down the East 114-112. These performances, along with his spectacular high school career, helped make Derrick one of the most well documented and highly coveted players in the nation. He topped many scouts’ lists as the best point guard in the country and was also a consensus top-five recruit among the biggest scouting services.
After high school, Derrick elected to play for Coach John Calipari and the Memphis Tigers. During his freshman year, Derrick was outstanding. He averaged 14.9 points, 4.7 assists, 4.5 rebounds and 1.2 steals while making 48% of his shots from the floor. His command of the court, defensive prowess, and leadership were key in leading the Tigers to a #1 seed in the NCAA Tournament. Derrick’s draft stock soared throughout the tournament as Memphis advanced all the way to the finals, helped in large part by Derrick’s phenomenal play. The championship game however was a heartbreaker for Derrick and the Tigers as they lost to the University of Kansas in overtime.
Soon after the championship game, Derrick announced his intentions to declare for the NBA Draft. The risk he took by declaring for the NBA Draft after only his freshmen season at Memphis paid off when he was selected #1 by the Chicago Bulls, his hometown team. Derrick is the first point guard to be chosen #1 overall in 12 years since Allen Iverson was picked in 1996. Derrick has had an excellent training camp with the Bulls and is expected to make an enormous impact in his rookie year.
