D Rose Tour in full bloom at Manila

Derrick Rose made his long-awaited return to the Philippines a few days ago for the final overseas stop of his D Rose Worldwide Tour.

As explained by Adidas Philippines' Country Manager Georges Youssef, “This tour is an expansive effort to connect Derrick Rose with his fans and support the growth of basketball on an international scale.”

The 2009 Rookie of the Year and the 2011 Most Valuable Player spent a couple of days here, with a busy itinerary.

On his arrival on Saturday, he was the guest of honor in the Adidas Unite All Originals party. Sunday may have been Cheerdance day at the Mall of Asia Arena, but if you were at the SMART-Araneta Coliseum, you were witness to the D Rose Tour's 3-on-3 tournament.

The tournament brought together 16 top high school teams from the ASEAN region, with the chance and opportunity to be playing in front of the NBA superstar. Thailand won the tournament, beating out Arellano in the final.

Rose also showed that he is really on track from his recovery from his knee injury, playing in an exhibition 3-on-3 with the Thais against a select group of PBA stars. He also gamely played two-ball (with the lovely Isabelle Daza as his partner against the YHs) and a three-point shootout (narrowly losing to reigning 3-pt king Chris Tiu) during that event.

On Monday, he held a general press conference with the media in the morning, with the general consensus from the discussion being the following:

1. He knows he is ready to play for this season, and that the best advice he got was from his agent, former Chicago Bulls guard BJ Armstrong, "be patient."
2. He, and the rest of the Chicago Bulls, trusts and buys into Tom Thibodeaux system. (Thibs has been criticized for overextending some of his players, namely Luol Deng and Joakim Noah.) He also believes that Thibs is a genius, especially on the defensive end.
3. He has a hand with the regards to the design of his shoes. (If you remember, one of the criticisms in the immediate aftermath of Rose's injury was that the shoe was partially to blame)
4. The concept of his logo (as seen on top) was that with his family in mind. 3 petals for his brothers. the center represents his mom and looks like a 1.
5. He wants to play for Team USA in the FIBA World Cup.

The adidas D Rose Tour is supported by the official hotel partner, Marriott Hotel, the official hydration partner, Powerade and the venue partners Smart Araneta Coliseum and SM Mall of Asia.