Dissed By A Rose

Two informed sources told me on Sunday night that University of Memphis guard Derrick Rose is about to name his agent. And somehow it's not going to be Leon (no relation) Rose.

No, instead, Derrick Rose -- who took his Memphis Tigers all the way to the National Championship Game and could be the No. 1 overall pick -- is going to pick Arn Tellem of the Wasserman Media Group to represent him in the NBA Draft in June.

AP

Tellem, who is already representing the Lopez brothers from Stanford as well as Anthony Randolph from LSU, didn't return a call seeking comment.

This was a shock because Derrick Rose was so connected to William Wesley, who had steered clients towards Leon Rose, agent of LeBron James and Allen Iverson.

Turns out that although Wesley is well connected to Derrick Rose, his brother Reggie Rose was still running the show. So the assumption that there was a deal in place the entire time, that Wesley's connection with Derrick and friendship with Memphis coach John Calipari would yield a contract with Leon Rose and his Creative Artists Agency, was actually a faulty assumption.

According to these sources, Reggie Rose didn't let that happen. After the season was over, Reggie reopened negotiations with agents and eventually was leaning towards Tellem after believing that Tellem would make his brother the most most money in the end.

I'm not usually in the business of reporting who signs with who because one day it's with this guy, the next guy it's with another guy. But this one was particularly interesting. Hopefully tomorrow I don't hear that Derrick Rose actually has changed his mind and is going to be represented by Leon (no relation) Rose.

If Rose is picked first in the NBA Draft, he will receive a guaranteed three-year contract worth $15,553,440. Rose's shoe deal could be worth more than that.

Questions? Comments? [e-mail]