Rose seems special, but who knows?

The only guarantees that come with Derrick Rose are the millions of dollars in his first contract.

For the Bulls there are none.

Rose's introductory news conference Monday reminded me of another 11 years ago, for a couple of reasons.

It was the day before the NCAA Tournament championship game and Mike Bibby was at the podium.

The Arizona point guard was asked adult question after adult question and he provided adult answer after adult answer.

Finally I asked Bibby, "Do you realize how young you are?"

Bibby was a freshman at Arizona. He was 18 years old. He was about to play the season's biggest game before tens of thousands of rabid fans.

I don't recall Bibby's response. Didn't matter. The question was rhetorical.

What mattered was that Bibby was important before his time, at least age-wise, just as the 19-year-old Rose is today.

My goodness this is heady stuff for Rose - first overall pick in last week's NBA draft, sudden face of his hometown Bulls franchise, wealthy beyond imagination.

Rose appears to be a young man who can handle it with the help of a solid family infrastructure.

More problematic will be leading the Bulls to another string of NBA titles.

Again I think of Bibby.

On the way to baseball spring training in 1996, I received a phone call from a friend at a Phoenix newspaper asking me to watch Bibby play in a high school tournament.

The friend knew I saw Isiah Thomas play a couple of high school games. He wanted me to compare Bibby to him.

I didn't have time to do it, but the point is Bibby was good enough in high school to beg comparisons to one of the best basketball players ever.

The next year, Bibby not only played in the NCAA title game, as Rose did this year, but helped win it, as Rose didn't.

"I think the coaches were more rattled than Mike Bibby was," said Arizona assistant coach Jessie Evans after the title game.

Following his sophomore year Bibby declared for the NBA draft and was the second overall pick ahead of the likes of Vince Carter, Dirk Nowitzki and Paul Pierce. He would have been first, as Rose was this year, if the Clippers hadn't brain-cramped and taken Michael Olowokandi.

I mention all this because Mike Bibby was good enough to be the Derrick Rose of his time and draft class.

"He has no weaknesses," then-North Carolina coach Dean Smith said of Bibby. "He is a special one."

During the decade that followed Bibby became a good pro point guard. Off the court he grew from young man to grown man without embarrassing incident.

Yet Bibby currently is on his third pro team - Grizzlies, Kings and now Hawks - and hasn't reached the NBA Finals much less won one.

OK, so Rose's playing potential does seem better because he's a little bigger and a lot more athletic. . . but Bibby wasn't and isn't bad, folks.

So drafting Rose doesn't guarantee the Bulls any championships. General manager John Paxson preaches patience with his new phenom, but 10 years later Bibby is still pursuing his first NBA title.

Rose will have to stay healthy. He'll have to become all he's expected to be. He'll have to be surrounded by championship-caliber teammates.

As Mike Bibby's career indicates, there really aren't any guarantees.

mimrem@dailyherald.com