For Derrick Rose‘s 24th birthday, the release of his new signature shoes, and plenty more D-Rose hoopla, we thought this would be an ideal to take a look at the Top 10 crossovers of his NBA career…
There are innumerable ways to describe Derrick Rose’s game. Already an NBA MVP, he’s crazy fast from baseline to baseline. He’s got crazy flight, doing damage at the rim like no other point guard before him. And his crazy handle lets him drop nearly any defender in the league. To be all of these, though, his shoes have to be crazy light.
The perfect combination of all those elements is the baby Bull’s crossover. He’s modest about his move — he calls it “a basic right-to-left crossover, or left-to-right crossover” — but we all know calling it “basic” is like calling NASA math easy.
Here is the countdown Derrick Rose’s Top 10 Crossovers that we produced for Foot Locker’s Unlocked Blog:
10. Rose on Jeff Teague. Like a Sunday morning drive, Rose goes half speed and still leaves his defender rooted in place. He makes the cross, drive and huge dunk look easy.
9. Rose on Anderson Varejao. This was a mismatch from the very start, with Rose’s double crossover finishing the job.
8. Rose on Dwyane Wade. You can’t say Miami didn’t see it coming. With the floor cleared out for him, Rose goes against a defense with all five players watching him and still shreds Wade and the Heat.
7. Rose on Rajon Rondo. It all seems so simple: between the legs, hesitation, a look at the rim and then like an old-school “Batman” episode he goes BAM right on your screen.
6. Rose on Johan Petro. A rare second-level crossover. Rose weaves by Devin Harris, then snakes Johan Petro out of his shorts 15 feet from the hoop. Petro is still wondering if he should shade him left or right on this drive.
5. Rose on Wesley Matthews. The Trail Blazers guard seems to say, “What’s the point of even trying?” after he gets fooled by Rose at the No. 8 clip.
4. Rose on Brandon Jennings. Here’s the embodiment of his crazy game, from lightness to hops, in one clip. See his mix-up of Jennings turn into a twisting dive at the hoop in seconds.
3. Rose on Tyreke Evans. It’s hard to get much more impressive when two of the League’s fastest players guard one another. This made the matchup look anything but even, though, leaving his fellow Memphis Tiger spinning and grasping for jersey, air, anything…
2. Rose on Derek Fisher. Fisher has five rings, but Rose still has his ankles.
1. Rose on Andre Miller. Miller’s a veteran’s veteran who’s seen everything, right? Well, he never saw this coming, taking not one but two extra steps after being violated on the dribble. It goes No. 1 for pure stop-start value.
Did we miss any?
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