On Derrick Rose of the Chicago Bulls and Being a Good Employee

As a follow up to my post,Is the Problem with NBA Players That They Are Not "Selfless"? Derek H Franklin emails:

Robert,

I read your blog about selfless NBA players and completely agree with your conclusion.

Derrick Rose, as I'm sure you and other NBA fans know, is the immensely talented, and currently injured, star point guard for the Bulls. He attended Simeon Career Academy High School, a school I've been involved with dating back to 1980 when my Dad became the head coach for the varsity baseball team. My Dad saw Rose practice and play a lot of basketball during his time as a student there. One of his remarks about Rose's play was that he was "selfless."

For example, Simeon played and won the Illinois state basketball championship during Rose's senior year. In that game he had 2 or 4 points and about 16 assists - my Dad witnessed this as he was at the game. He could have scored almost at will, but he wanted his teammates to shine. One could say he acted selflessly.

Fast forward to next year. Rose is playing for the University of Memphis and has to be told by his head coach to shoot more so the team can reach its full potential. Rose complied and the team lost the championship game that year.

Fast forward to the next year. Rose, now playing for the Chicago Bulls, is told by the coaching staff that he needs to score more so the team can win and challenge for an NBA championship. He was a "good employee" and did exactly what he was told to do. That year the Bulls lost in the conference finals to the eventual champions, the Miami Heat.

Actually, the Bulls version of Rose as a "good employee" involved him being selfish, to a degree.

Professional sports teams, multi-national corporations, and many small businesses need "good employees" to succeed. Sometimes that means an employee will be required to be selfless by his superiors while others will be required to be selfish.

Kindest regards,
Derek H Franklin

Sent from my iPhone