With only a few days left in NBA All-Star balloting, the Bulls' Derrick Rose passed Rajon Rondo of the Celtics to take over second place among Eastern Conference guards, trailing only the Heat's Dwyane Wade.
↵↵Rose has 1,225,575 votes and leads Rondo by about 54,000; Rondo has 1,171,311 in the latest count announced yesterday. There are still several ways you can vote for D-Rose -- paper balloting at NBA arenas will continue until Monday, Jan. 17. Meanwhile, you can vote electronically via your wireless phone, texting or online at NBA.com until Sunday, Jan. 23. All-Star starters will be announced on a TNT broadcast on Thursday, Jan. 27, and later, coaches will select reserves for the Sunday, Feb. 20 game in Los Angeles.
↵↵So go out and vote, in fine Chicago tradition, "early and often" for Derrick Rose; let's make him the first Bulls All-Star starter since Michael Jordan. For his part, Rose doesn't want to be compared to Jordan:
↵↵"I wouldn't want to be near him right now because he did so much for the Bulls," Rose said. "I don't look at stuff like that. Just put me on the team and I'd be happy. Last year I didn't start, but I had a great time. Just being on the team is a blessing."↵↵
Rose is definitely having an All-Star quality season. He deserves to start.