First brought to my attention by a Dimemag.com column listing D.Rose’s top 15 poster dunks (kudos to Sean Sweeney), this early footage of the Chicago wunderkind should be viewed and enjoyed again and again. It’s truly a vision of what lay in store for fans of the future MVP, who rampaged his way through the NBA from 2008 to 20012 before succumbing to the injuries, that unfortunately since then we’ve come to attribute to the Bulls stud.
Uploaded a little over three years ago, the video you’re about to watch has had an astronomical amount of views. The thing is, it was originally uploaded in a mix video by the same channel (Hoopmixtape) prior to 2011 and at the time was greatly received. “When we dropped this original mix, it caught 20,000 views in one day” the uploader claims in the YouTube description. “There were no free videos of Derrick Rose on-line, and this started a lot of his hype early on” the uploader continues to explain. After watching it you can clearly see that the hype was real for the 17 year old kid from Chicago’s Southside.
The year was 2006, the setting, the Adidas May Classic. Derrick Rose’s star was yet to reach the heights that I’ve touched on, but in Chicago the Simeon standout was fast becoming a household name. In the video he’s suited up for the Mean Streets Express, which was the legendary AAU squad that dominated the Summer basketball landscape. “We had Derrick as the point guard and Eric Gordon as the 2-guard. Just to see them play together, it was chemistry. It was just a magical summer that really skyrocketed both of those guys in the rankings. We went everywhere and played everybody—we didn’t care who we played. We won the Nike Peach Jam with only seven players, and our tallest player was 6-4. We beat Tyreke Evans’ team. We beat Blake Griffin’s team. We beat Jacob Pullen’s team, Xavier Henry’s team. We had a crazy run.”, Derrick’s brother Reggie Rose who coached the Mean Streets Express explains.
As the play in this video unfolds, what Rose does to the ginger haired lad donning the #50 jersey is just filthy. Wherever you are today ‘Big Red’, you get my ‘What Were You Thinking?’ Award for your misguided attempt at contesting Rose’s rim rattler.
Whether you watch this video at it’s normal speed, in slow motion or whatever, it’s just glorious to watch no matter which way you look at it and I look forward to the now 26 year old Derrick bringing the ruckus when he steps back on the NBA hardwood in October. As should you.
WARNING: May offend some red headed viewers
