CEBU CITY, Philippines – If there’s one thing Derrick Rose wants a young Cebuano basketball hopeful to know, it’s this: the NBA dream doesn’t come with a shortcut.
It comes with 10,000 hours of work—and probably a lot fewer hours on the PlayStation.
Rose shared the advice during a press conference in the “Rose Meets the Queen: Derrick Rose in Cebu” organized by ArenaPlus at SM Seaside Cebu on Wednesday, August 26, challenging aspiring players to embrace the grind if they want to become more than just another kid who can play basketball.
“I would give them the 10,000 hours rule, where if you’re trying to do something great, you gotta get to that 10,000 hours,” said Rose, an ArenaPlus ambassador.
“If you’re just trying to be regular, you can get less than that. But most great players always dedicate themselves to the 10,000 hours or more.“
Rose knows a thing or two about putting in the work.
The former NBA Most Valuable Player recalled spending an estimated 20,000 to 30,000 hours on the basketball court during his younger years, when the game was essentially his entire world.
“I was always on the court. Basketball was my everything,” Rose said. “So it has to be your everything. It has to be your first girlfriend, I would say.“
And if that means choosing between getting better at basketball and getting better at a video game, well, Rose has a pretty clear idea of which one should come first.
Before picking up the PlayStation or Xbox controller, Rose challenged young players to ask themselves a few questions first.
“Did you shoot 100 shots? Did you make 100 shots? Did you make 200 shots? Did you do your push-ups and sit-ups? Did you read? Learn about the transformation before you actually touch the video game,” he said.
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It’s advice Rose also gives his own teenage son, PJ, who is 13.
“That’s what I tell my teenager son right now because he’s 13. Figure out your routine,” he said.
According to Rose, having a routine is one of the common threads among NBA players. It doesn’t have to remain exactly the same throughout a player’s journey, but having a foundation to build on is crucial.
“Every great player or every NBA player always has some type of shell of their routine before they get to the NBA. And you just tweak it along the way,” Rose said.
“But if you don’t have no routine or no shell of a routine, there’s no hell you’re gonna make it.”
For a young player dreaming of joining the NBA someday, Rose’s message was simple: dream big, but make sure the work is even bigger. Because before the bright lights, the packed arenas, and the NBA jersey comes something far less glamorous—the hours nobody sees.
And yes, the PlayStation can wait.
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