Bulls Point Guard Rose becomes youngest MVP in NBA History

By Ray Bennett
Tuesday May 3rd, 2011

In 2008, the Chicago Bulls used their number one overall lottery pick on a young point guard who grew up on the city's south side. Many within the organization believed he would be the first piece to rebuilding a team that has never tasted success since their string of two separate three-peat's in the 1990's. Three years later, the young man they drafted now holds the NBA's highest personal award.

On Tuesday, Bulls point guard Derrick Rose won the National Basketball Association's Most Valuable Player award. At the age of 22, Rose becomes the youngest player in league history to win the honor. Former Baltimore Bullets star Wes Unseld was previously the NBA's youngest MVP when he won it along with rookie of the year award at the age of 23. Rose obtained 113 first-place votes from esteemed members of the media.

Rose, who helped lead the Bulls to a league best regular season record of 62-20, averaged 25 points, 7.7 assists and 4.1 rebounds per game. Many league general managers believed that his play this past season would lead him to this personal accolade. Rose will officially obtain the award when Commissioner David Stern presents it to him before the Bulls Game Two match-up against the Atlanta Hawks in the Eastern Conference Semi-Finals.

Orlando Magic center Dwight Howard finished second among players in MVP voting. Last year's winner, Miami Heat small forward Lebron James, who won the award playing for Cleveland, finished in third. Lakers veteran Kobe Bryant finished in fourth and Oklahoma City's Kevin Durant finished in fifth.

Rose joins legendary Bulls guard/forward Michael Jordan as the only two players in franchise history to win the MVP award. Jordan won it five times in his career, the last time in 1998, his final season with the team before retiring for the second time in his career. Jordan is now the majority owner of the Charlotte Bobcats. Rose is also the second Bull this year to win a regular season award, with his coach Tom Thibodeau winning the league's Coach of the Year award in his first season this past week.

Rose played one year of college basketball at Memphis under former coach John Calipari. He helped the Tigers reach the 2008 national championship game, which they lost to Kansas in overtime. Later that summer, he was drafted by his hometown team. His eligibility at Memphis, however, was questioned by the NCAA after accusations about his low S.A.T scores came to light.

In his rookie season, he won the league's Rookie of the Year award at the age of 20. He became a rising star in the league after a memorable first-round playoff series in which the Bulls pushed the then defending champion Boston Celtics to the brink in a seven-game series. In his playoff debut, Rose tied Kareem Abdul-Jabbar for the most points scored by a first-time player with 36 points. The Bulls ended up losing the series to the Celtics four games to three.

In Rose's second season, he became a first time all-star as a reserve and the first Chicago Bull since Jordan to play in the game. This past season, Rose was elected back to the all-star game, this time as a starter. He also became the third player in league history to have over 2000 points and 600 assists in a single season. The other two players to achieve this were Jordan and Lebron James.

Rose is expected to start Game Two of the Bulls series against the Hawks after re-injuring his left ankle near the end of Monday's Game One loss. Rose first injured the ankle during their first round series against Central Division rival Indiana. The Bulls won the series in five games to advance to the conference Semi-Finals.