The Official Site of Derrick Rose

Fri, Jul 24th 2009, 10:52

Derrick talks about his summer with Bulls.com

The NBA can take the kid out of you pretty fast.

Derrick Rose is learning that.

Rose effectively began his second year of NBA life here Thursday trying out for a spot on the USA Basketball team that will play in the World Championships in Turkey in 2010 and the 2012 Olympics in London.

“I wanted to be there (last year when the U.S. team won the 2008 gold medal), on that podium,” said Rose, who said he stayed up with his mom into the early morning hours watching the Olympics. “It makes you want to come out here and be a part of this. You are competing against the world. I wouldn’t care if I started or not. Just to be out here competing with these guys, hopefully I’ll do good and be selected. I’ll do anything they want me to do, sacrifice scoring whatever. I just want to be on the team.”

Rose had a good first day, his shot looking better after what he said were all day shooting sessions since the playoffs and running the break nicely in drills with buddy Kevin Durant, who stood out and seems a lock to be added to the team.

For Rose, it’s all about looking forward after a brilliant rookie season when he was named Rookie of the Year and an eye opening offseason when he apparently became part of an NCAA investigation of the University of Memphis, issued an apology for being seen making a gang sign, lost backcourt running mate Ben Gordon to free agency and the rival Detroit Pistons, and has had his Bulls mentioned in trade talk for Carlos Boozer and perhaps next summer free agency regarding fellow Chicagoan Dwyane Wade.

Rose said he’s spent much of the summer doing promotional work for Adidas and will go to China for a week in August for the shoe company. Rose was at the ESPY awards, where he lost out to Atlanta Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan for Best Newcomer and has spent considerable time working out and practicing in Los Angeles.

Rose addressed the summer issues for the first time before the first mini-camp tryouts Thursday at Valley High School.

On Ben Gordon: “I haven’t had a chance to talk to Ben. It hurt a little bit. In high school and college you were used to playing with someone for a couple of years. In the NBA, things change. You’re not going to play with the same people every year. I guess it’s just something I’m going to have to get used to.

“We’ll miss a player like Ben,” said Rose. “He’s a great player who likes to win. But we’ve just got to keep it moving. We’ve still got Kirk Hinrich, John Salmons, Lu (Deng). We just have to play harder next year. I was kind of surprised (when Ben signed with Detroit). It’s going to be kind of hard not having him there. But I just have to fight through it and try to get focused for the season.

“It’s going to be a tough season. Teams got better,” said Rose. “You can’t cry about it. You’ve got to go out there and play with what we have. I (still) feel the season is looking good. I think we should start off good. We still have a lot of experience and that should help us for next season.”

Continue reading….