Smelling like a Rose

Recommended reading: Rick Telander’s Chicago Sun-Times piece on NBA Rookie of the Year Derrick Rose.

At the moment, Rose is the Next Big Thing in the NBA, a cat-quick point guard who can penetrate the paint with the best of them (ask the Boston Celtics, if you doubt). Yet, according to Telander’s column, Rose has managed to avoid swelled-head syndrome — no small feat for an top-tier athlete today.

Telander quotes Bulls exec John Paxson: "Derrick is a great kid. He's got humility. He doesn't think he's got all the answers. He doesn't do it by pounding his chest."

The column says Rose learned the right approach from his family.

"You always try to treat a person the way you want to be treated," Rose’s mother, Brenda, told Telander. "That's the main rule. It comes from my grandmother."

http://www.suntimes.com/sports/telander/1540470,CST-SPT-rick23.article