High school mixtapes are a major part of hoop culture, though not all of the featured hoopers make it to the NBA while some make respectable careers in the pros. During their tour, Jordan Brand athletes Luka Doncic, Zion Williamson, Jayson Tatum, and Paolo Banchero all shared their choices of the player with the best high school mixtape. Amid the usual choices, like John Wall and Andrew Wiggins, Dallas Mavericks superstar Luka Doncic made an interesting choice for the mixtape GOAT: Derrick Rose.
The Jordan Brand athletes gave their choices during an interview with Overtime, which they uploaded on X, formerly Twitter. After admitting that he only watched “some” basketball mixtapes way back when, the Slovenian All-Star picked Rose, which made the interviewer say, “That's a good one.”
The Mavericks star and the best high school mixtapes
Watching mixtapes are great fun, but they're not a reliable gauge on a player's potential to become a star in the pros, much less build a long career. Not many become All-Stars, like John Wall, and even fewer become NBA MVPs, like Derrick Rose.
At his peak, the Chicago Bulls star led the team from its post-Michael Jordan purgatory back into prominence, becoming the league's youngest player to win MVP in 2011. That season, Rose led the Bulls to 62 wins and all the way to the Eastern Conference finals, where they lost to the Heatles in their first season together.
Despite the loss, D-Rose ascended to superstardom with averages of 25.0 points and 7.7 assists. However, like Brandon Roy, injuries would cut his prime years short.
Rose tore his ACL in the first round of the 2012 playoffs, as Tom Thibodeau inexplicably left him in the game versus the Philadelphia 76ers, even though the Bulls had a 12-point lead with 1:22 remaining in the fourth.
Then, slowly but surely, a series of injuries took away his incredible bounce and explosiveness, which affected his confidence. His decline from superstar to capable role player forced the Bulls to trade him, and he has become an NBA journeyman. In 2023, Rose signed with the Memphis Grizzlies, though he missed a good chunk of the season due to injury.
Still, young Derrick Rose's athleticism and quick-twitch moves must have impressed Luka Doncic while watching his high school mixtape. While Doncic plays a completely different style of basketball, it's hard not to admire the flashiness and speed of Rose's game.
Can Luka return to the NBA Finals?
Currently, Luka Doncic's Mavericks teammate Kyrie Irving also has the craftiness and ball-handling skill that made Derrick Rose such a tough cover in his prime. While the Mavericks fell short in the 2024 NBA Finals against the Celtics, the Slovenian has to feel good about their chances of winning a ring, especially after acquiring Klay Thompson.
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