Blogs.Bulls.com

Maybe it is the shoes.

Hey, has that one been used already?

Oh yeah, him.

Part of All-Star weekend is the fashion show, and Derrick Rose will use Sunday’s game to wear the latest version of his new adidas sneaker with a nice, sentimental touch that is so much like Rose.

He is hosting almost two dozen family members and friends in Los Angeles for his first ever All-Star start between Dwyane Wade and LeBron James in the backcourt, but his tribute is to his brothers, Reggie, Allan and Dwayne. Rose purchased a suite in the Staples Center for the weekend for his guests as he also has a suite for his family at the United Center.

Rose, with the aid of adidas designers, prepared his new adiZero 1.5 Rose shoe with three paneled zones that represent each of his brothers whom Rose credits for helping guide him from the troubled potential of his Southside neighborhood to his place as now one of the best and most popular players in the NBA.

Rose said he’ll wear a yellow sneaker to open the game to celebrate his high school and then wear the new sneaker design for the second half. It’s mostly a black sneaker with a white toe and white racing stripes in the back.

“It’s something they helped me with and I thought about,” Rose said. “They asked me a bunch of questions and I gave them some ideas and they came up with this and I think it’s great. I’m very happy with it.”

Rose said the new sneaker is lighter and provides more support and doesn’t even feel like much when he’s blowing by defenders and dunking.

adidas has that three white striped vertical feature on the Rose shoes at the heel as their own version of subtle trash talking: Eat my dust! The designers inserted it as something of a statement of Rose’s impressive speed, something the defender will see as Rose flashes by.

Could it be the shoes?