Chicago Bulls Future Lies Squarely on Derrick Rose's Shoulders

If it wasn’t for Derrick Rose, my head would still be in a Jimmy John’s toilet.    

In the wake of the most anticipated summer in NBA history, the “what could have been” hangover just won’t go away.  I kept waiting for Chris Broussard to Tweet details on “The Decision: Keith Bogans,” but it never happened.  

Did Jay-Z fly to Utah to recruit Kyle Korver, or was he too busy in Vegas wooing C.J. Watson and Ms. Mayweather?  

Where was Brian Scalabrine on New York’s wish list?  Did anyone even take the time to realize he wasn’t actually the Boston Celtics Mascot? 

In all practicality, the Bulls front office really did have a nice summer.  Carlos Boozer is a solid piece, as are the additions they made to bolster their bench, but in a league where your team goes as far as your best player takes you, none of it matters in comparison to Rose’s development.

One thing has remained consistent in an ever-changing NBA:  Superstars win championships.  

The term superstar is the most misused in sports, particularly in basketball.  

Chris Bosh is not a superstar; neither is Vince Carter or Amar’e Stoudemire.  Superstars are players capable of being the No. 1 option on a championship team, and going into the 2010-2011 campaign, only Kobe, LBJ, D-Wade, Durant, Howard, and Nowitzki can legitimately be put into that category.  If the Bulls are to go anywhere now or in the future, Derrick Rose must reach that level. 

All preseason articles are measuring Rose against Chris Paul and Deron Williams and posing the question:  Can Rose be the best PG in the league?  

For the Bulls' future, the question must be:  Can he be the best player in the league?  

Arguably, we've seen what the best PG in the league can do with a similar team (Williams and the Jazz), as the Jazz of the last five seasons and this year’s Bulls are eerily similar in talent and style.  Yes they’re good…but not good enough; always in the second-round of the playoffs, but never a serious threat to the real contenders. 

Bulls Media Day had Rose saying all the right things, the things he knows everyone wants to hear, the things B.J. Armstrong (his agent) and brothers are telling him to say.  The real issue is whether Rose can completely drop the deferring tendencies he’s showed at Memphis, in Chicago, and during this summer’s Worlds, and play with the selfish alpha-dog swagger of the NBA’s elite. 

The future of the franchise depends on it.