CASPER
New member
CHICAGO (AP)—Chicago Bulls point guard Derrick Rose(notes) said he used “extremely poor judgment” in posing for a photo flashing a gang sign.
The NBA’s Rookie of the Year said in a statement issued through the Bulls that the photo circulating on the Internet was taken at a party he went to while at the University of Memphis.
It was “meant as a joke … a bad one, I now admit,” Rose said.
Rose said he was “guilty of being young, naive and of using extremely poor judgment,” but has never been affiliated with a gang.
“I can’t speak loudly enough against gang violence, and things that gangs represent,” he said. “I sincerely apologize to all my fans for my mistake.”
Rose, the overall No. 1 pick in the 2008 NBA draft who led the Bulls to the playoffs, was already under a cloud cast by an NCAA investigation of major violations at Memphis during the only season he played there.
In a letter to Memphis, the NCAA said an unknown person took the SAT for a player—with his knowledge—and that the player used it to get admitted. The governing body says the athlete played for the Tigers only in the 2007-08 season and the 2008 NCAA tournament. Only one person fits that description—Rose.
While the allegations swirled, Rose has kept quiet.
The only word out of his camp has been a statement by attorney Daniel E. Reidy, who said Rose cooperated in an investigation by Memphis that uncovered “no wrongdoing on his part.”
The NBA’s Rookie of the Year said in a statement issued through the Bulls that the photo circulating on the Internet was taken at a party he went to while at the University of Memphis.
It was “meant as a joke … a bad one, I now admit,” Rose said.
Rose said he was “guilty of being young, naive and of using extremely poor judgment,” but has never been affiliated with a gang.
“I can’t speak loudly enough against gang violence, and things that gangs represent,” he said. “I sincerely apologize to all my fans for my mistake.”
Rose, the overall No. 1 pick in the 2008 NBA draft who led the Bulls to the playoffs, was already under a cloud cast by an NCAA investigation of major violations at Memphis during the only season he played there.
In a letter to Memphis, the NCAA said an unknown person took the SAT for a player—with his knowledge—and that the player used it to get admitted. The governing body says the athlete played for the Tigers only in the 2007-08 season and the 2008 NCAA tournament. Only one person fits that description—Rose.
While the allegations swirled, Rose has kept quiet.
The only word out of his camp has been a statement by attorney Daniel E. Reidy, who said Rose cooperated in an investigation by Memphis that uncovered “no wrongdoing on his part.”