As announced Thursday evening on a special TNT broadcast, the Bulls' Derrick Rose will be a starter for the Eastern Conference in the NBA All-Star Game, to be played in Los Angeles on Sunday, Feb. 20
↵The other Eastern Conference starters will be, to no one's surprise, Dwyane Wade, LeBron James, Amare Stoudemire and Dwight Howard. The reserves will be selected by the coaches and will be announced a week from tonight.
↵Rose is the first Bull to be an All-Star starter since Michael Jordan. Rose said before the season that he was gunning for MVP honors, and he has had a fine season so far. Hopefully, he'll be OK to play tomorrow night against the Magic; it was reported earlier today that Rose missed practice Thursday afternoon due to "stomach ulcers" and his status for tomorrow's game was "uncertain".
↵In any case, congratulations to D-Rose for this honor; after the announcement, Rose said, "I’m feeling really loved right now and I appreciate all the support that helped me earn a starting position in the All-Star game. I want to thank all the fans that voted, especially the people from my hometown of Chicago. I also want to give thanks to the Bulls organization that did a great job promoting me, and most of all I want to thank my teammates and coaches for putting me in this position."