The 6ft 3’ (1.91 m) Chicago Bulls point guard is the NBA’s most valuable player (the youngest ever to win this award) and basketball’s standout star in the making according to the Press. With Rose though you can believe the hype as his transition from College Basketball phenomenon to NBA heavyweight, he took in his very significant stride.

It has been a meteoric rise and it’s no wonder people are making comparisons with Jordan ‘the greatest Basketball Player of all time’. But Rose is more than a superior athlete, for many of his hometown residents he is a beacon of light in an otherwise tough existence that forces young men and boys to crime and gangs that holds parts of Chicago paralyzed with fear.

Rose comes from the notoriously hard Chicago neighbourhood of Englewood. Other Englewood resident of note is Jennifer Hudson whose mother, brother and nephew were gunned-down in Englewood in 2008). Rose is familiar with the exact corner the crime took place and grew up around the corner learning his basketball on the concrete two-hoop court from his two older brothers.

It is a grim reality facing the neighbourhood’s kids but Rose is a shining example that there is another way, that you can get to the top by just believing in yourself. But Rose has risen or rather soared above it all. Derrick Rose looks set to fill the most famous shoes in sport.

Written by: Hugo Mc Cafferty