NEW YORK, June 26, 2008 -- "Did you ever think you would get this far by passing the ball?" Derrick Rose's brother Reggie asked.

Derrick, a point guard out of Memphis, is known for his selfless play and his team-oriented attitude, but tonight, the NBA 2008 Draft night, all eyes focused in on Derrick. He couldn’t pass off the attention or let a teammate score the spotlight. At 5:00 pm on June 26, 2008, Derrick began to prepare for what would be a monumental milestone in his young basketball career and a defining moment in his life. Surrounded by family and friends in his hotel room, jokes and loud laughs echoed throughout the room. With two and half hours until he would receive a definitive answer about what colors he would wear in the 2008-09 NBA season, Rose appeared calm, cool and collected.

"(I feel) nothing right now. I am going to be real tense when David Stern walks out of that back room," Derrick said. "That is when I am going to be real nervous."

His mother, on other hand, left her poker face at home, showing her emotion prior to the draft.

With tears filling her eyes Derrick's mother Brenda Rose said, "I cannot even express how proud I am."

Once he left his room he joined other NBA prospects as they patiently waited to load the bus and head to Madison Square Garden where they'd learn their fate. While the prospects greeted each other, the players spoke very little, allowing Derrick to enjoy his last moments of peace and quiet for the night.

Once he arrived at the Garden, fans screamed his name and media swarmed his personal space. As soon as he entered the "World's Most Famous Arena," he headed straight for the WaMu Theatre and took his seat.

Once seated, he admitted feeling a bit anxious.

"I am kind of getting nervous but I know that I will be alright," Rose said.

His college coach, John Calipari, joined him at his table for a pre-game pep talk while the media continued to crowd Rose. Calipari joked that he was trying to convince the star point guard to return to college, but then went on to say that he was proud of Derrick but not surprised that he would likely be a top pick in the draft.

"You knew right away," Calipari said. "When he was down on the campus in the summer and he was trying to practice five, six hours a day and getting tendonitis because of it, you kind of knew."

As his family arrived at his table and the show was about to begin, ESPN announced that Chicago would choose Derrick with their No. 1 pick. However, Derrick did not react, still waiting for Commissioner Stern to officially make him a Bull.

The lights dimmed, the media cleared out and the cameras began to roll. Commissioner Stern took the stage and Derrick's moment had arrived.

"It took me a couple of seconds to realize he called my name because this is the highest level of basketball and just being the No. 1 pick, it just gets me excited," Derrick said.

But crying tears of joy was out of the question.

"I didn’t want to be on bloopers," Derrick explained. "That was the only thing I was thinking about."

After shaking the Commissioner's hand and interviewing with Steven A. Smith, Derrick made his way through the roaring crowd. Fans screamed and cameras flashed as the No. 1 pick headed to the media circus, pardon me, media circuit.

Rose did interview after interview with an alphabet soup of networks: ABC, CBS, NBATV, Comcast, FOX and MSG. Derrick answered countless questions throughout the evening, but the most popular, by far was: "What does it feel like to be a Bull?"

"Great," Rose responded. "Playing in my hometown, it feels like everything is going right for me, everything."

Once he left the media circuit, he spoke to local radio stations on the telephone. His biggest smile of the night came when he hung up the phone and realized the final media question had been answered.

But the night did not end there. Derrick traveled the halls, went through the theater and, passed hundreds of screaming fans to take pictures on this life-changing night. Reunited with his family and friends, Derrick took his last photos with his brothers and overjoyed mother by his side.

Soon after the photo shoot he left building to celebrate with his family.

In the 2008-09 season, Derrick will play in his hometown of Chicago after being chosen as the No. 1 pick in the 2008 Draft. What more could a basketball player want?

A ball, it seems.

"I just want to play."