Chicago Bulls star and one-time NBA MVP Derrick Rose was born October 4, 1988.
Rose was a born-and-bred Chicago basketball star, attending a high school known for its basketball talent and earning a scholarship to the University of Memphis. One of the top recruits in the nation, Rose went on to take a starring role as a freshman for the Tigers, leading them to the national championship game where they lost in overtime to the Kansas Jayhawks.
After one season playing college basketball, Rose opted for the NBA. Despite having odds of less than 2 percent, his hometown Chicago Bulls won the NBA Draft lottery and the right to pick Rose. The Bulls ultimately took Rose first overall.
Early in his career, Rose showed the potential for greatness. He won the league's Rookie of the Year award in 2009. Prior to the start of the 2010-11 season, Rose made headlines by asking out loud why he wasn't capable of winning the NBA's Most Valuable Player Award.
The league never had an answer to that question. Rose led the Bulls to the best regular-season record in the league that year and ultimately became the youngest-ever winner of the league's MVP award. The Bulls lost in the Eastern Conference Finals that year, but a promising roster maintained a bright future.
For the most part, however, that potential was never given the chance to prove itself. In 2012, after again leading the Bulls to the best regular-season record, Rose tore his ACL in the first game of the NBA playoffs. The injury proved devastating, as Rose missed all of the 2012-13 season.
He returned in the 2013-14 season but tore his meniscus early in the season, eventually opting for a surgery that ended his third consecutive season prematurely. In 2014-15, Rose played a majority of the Bulls' games for the first time in years, but his season was largely an effort to knock off the rust and regain his MVP form. Despite moments of brilliance, Rose never maintained the consistency of his past play.
Even so, the Bulls enter the 2015-16 season confident that Rose has fully regained his form through an offseason of proper training and a season of experience underneath his belt. The optimism is a welcome change in tone, but it remains to be seen whether Rose can actually live up to the expectations his early career set for him.
After a lightning-hot start to his career, it's still unclear what type of player Derrick Rose will be. His legacy, consequently, is far from clear.
