NBA legend Derrick Rose does a lot of philanthropic acts in his native Chicago. The youngest NBA MVP and former Simeon basketball legend has made it a point to give back to the city and community that helped him become the No.1 pick in the 2008 NBA Draft. Rose and his GOAT lab (an elite Chicago-based training center) recently sponsored a trip to Hong Kong for this year’s team.
Derrick Rose Funds Hong Kong Trip For Simeon HS Basktball
While the trip was designed to broaden the team’s horizons by letting them see the world outside of Chicago, per IHSA (lIlinois High School Athletic Association) says they broke two bylaws. Because of that head coach The IHSA suspended coach Tim Flowers for six games and two assistant coaches for four games. Simeon cannot practice for the first three days of the season and can only play 28 games this season instead of 31.
This Is Second Time Simeon Has Been Penalized For This
The Simeon program was also sanctioned for a foreign trip to Africa in 2022, and despite Flowers comments about things being done correctly this time around his team was once again punished for going abroad out of season.
Simeon Coach Says He Did Everything By The Book
This time we made sure we did it the right way,” Flowers said. “The trip was approved by Chicago Public Schools. Everything was given to [CPS], including an itinerary for the duration of the trip.”
“I cannot help that Derrick Rose is my friend and opportunities come because of that,” Flowers said. “Am I being held accountable because I have a friend that made it to the NBA? I don’t think that is fair or right. That’s all this is. The trip came about because [Rose] knew people in Hong Kong that wanted to give opportunities to our young men to come and see the world. Why should I be held accountable for that?”
Flowers Calls It A Double-Standard
Speaking with reporters, Flowers says the issue isn’t with the trip, but because he’s with the team earlier than permitted.
There are fall leagues being played in at least six different places that I know about,” Flowers said. “Coaches are coaching and organizing their teams. [The IHSA’s] problem is not the trip. It is that we should not have been organized as a team or as a program and I should not have been around my young men. My argument is, if we should not be organized as a team and if we can’t be organized and around one another why can everyone else?”
After Flowers and the Simeon administration appealed the original suspension only to lose and have it upped to six games.
As far as CPS and IHSA go, I am the sacrificial lamb,” Flowers said. “I did everything I was supposed to do as far as making sure everyone knew what was going on. I have video evidence and photo evidence of teams and coaches playing all across the state. We are not the only ones that did it. It is just that our fall games were in Hong Kong and someone else’s were at H-F or Lemont or wherever it may be.”
Flowers Says Trip Was Needed And Life Changing
In an Instagram video, Rose could be seen telling the team …
“This experience is to get you comfortable with being uncomfortable,”
Something Flowers reiterated in his comments about some of his players having the weight of the world on their shoulders.
“We have some kids going through some things right now,” Flowers said. “Some just lost people to gun violence. We have some young men that were able to get away from the city that were dealing with death threats. It was so much bigger than just a basketball game. We were able to give young men the opportunity to get out of Chicago, to get out of the hectic day to day of what they are going through.
“Some young men didn’t want to come home. They were able to walk the streets just from one restaurant to another to the hotel and feel safe.”
Flowers believes he and his team are being punished because a former NBA legend is funding things for them that other programs across the state can’t afford. That’s what it boils down to and he’s calling it a double standard.
