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Rose to wear high school number with Knicks: 'It's my roots'

Kamil Krzaczynski / USA TODAY Sports

In a little over two months, Derrick Rose will play his first NBA game for a team other than the Chicago Bulls. But while Rose is excited for a fresh start with the New York Knicks, the born-and-bred Chicagoan isn't forgetting his roots.

After wearing No. 1 for eight years with the Bulls, Rose will sport No. 25 for the Knicks. It's the number he wore at Chicago's Simeon High School as a tribute to the school's onetime superstar Benji Wilson, who was shot to death in 1984 at the age of 17.

"I'm not forgetting where I came from," Rose told The Vertical's Nick DePaula. "It's my roots, and I'll always give Chicago my all."

For Rose, No. 1 will remain significant, as a reminder of both his time with the Bulls and the play that got him drafted first overall by his hometown team in 2008.

"The past is the past, but that No. 1, I think, will always be stuck with me," Rose said. "It's always going to remind people and give them memories of how I played when I was younger. I was playing reckless, and I was just ballin'. I had raw talent."

What Rose has now is, frankly, a little unclear. He still shows occasional flashes of his early-career explosiveness, but multiple knee surgeries have robbed him of the devastating change-of-direction, first step, and vertical leap that made him one of the most exciting players in the game, not to mention the 2011 league MVP.

"Now, with the No. 25, I think you'll see a more mature player," Rose said. "You'll see the player that you saw toward the end of last year. More under-control type of game, and I got a lot more options now this year. That No. 1 will always be engraved in me, and it's not going anywhere. Twenty-five is just a new step, and a new step in the right direction."

With a wonky jump shot, and without the raw athletic ability that defined his early years, today's Rose is a bit of a cipher. He doesn't finish at the rim like he used to, doesn't really get to the free-throw line, and is an increasingly inefficient scorer and playmaker. He struggled for much of last season, but attributed those issues to a broken orbital bone that impaired his vision. His play indeed improved once he fully recovered, but even so the Bulls were better with Rose on the bench, and missed the playoffs for the first time in his career.

But the 27-year-old feels the change of scenery will help reverse the downward trend he's been on since first tearing his ACL in the 2012 playoffs.

"I feel like I'm not done," Rose said. "It's a new start. I feel rejuvenated, and when you put all that together, when I step on the floor, I really don't know what to expect. What I'm doing right now is just preparing myself for something big. I think we have a chance to win every game, and in the league, that's rare."

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