The NBA All-Star Game introductions featured a musical act by Nicki Minaj and enough smoke and lights to make Space Mountain look like a kids ride. Most of the All-Stars were enjoying the atmosphere and danced around like the rockstars they were made out to be. Derrick Rose was not one of them.
Just like his coach, Tom Thibodeau, Rose did not jump around like a kid at a concert. Instead, he had a focused look during intros and just waved his arm to acknowledge the crowd. He looked like a man ready for business and explained Sunday he didn’t think the dancing was appropriate.
“I can dance,” Rose said after Sunday night’s All-Star Game. “But there’s a time and place for that and I don’t think it was right, then and there.
“I don’t care,” Rose said when told fan’s noticed he wasn’t dancing like LeBron James or Dwight Howard. “You just know that’s me, man. If you would have saw me out there dancing, you would have been looking at me different. I’m just me. I can’t be anybody else. I think that’s what people see.”
I like Rose’s no-nonsense attitude, but if there is a time and place for the players to enjoy themselves and act like stars, it’s the All-Star Game. The game is an exhibition — it’s not like a berth to the NBA Finals is at stake. The guys should have fun, and they should ham it up for the fans who voted them into the game. If players want to dance and joke around, I have no problem with it. And if guys like Rose want to be all business, I respect that too. Guys should just be themselves and they shouldn’t take criticism either way unless they’re completely out of line.
