Bulls' rookie Rose hoping to star in TV ad

Most of the top NBA stars have new commercials out for the holiday gift-giving season.

Dwyane Wade's latest spot with Charles Barkley includes guest appearances by Yao Ming and a plate of live shrimp (or possibly prawns).

LeBron James jokingly suggests he gets fired up before games by listening to Cyndi Lauper's "Time After Time" on the headphones.

Kobe Bryant does a Tom Cruise imitation to promote a video game.

Quiet as he may be, Bulls rookie Derrick Rose can't wait until he's asked to do some acting in his own commercial. He recently filmed an ad for Wilson Sporting Goods, but that required nothing more than playing basketball with no lines to speak.

"I hope it's coming someday," Rose said Thursday at the Berto Center. "If anybody calls and I like doing it, for sure I'm going to take it. I've just got to continue to work hard and play aggressive when I'm on the court. We've got to win games for that to happen."

One of the reasons Rose gave for wanting to star in his own commercials was pretty comical in itself.

"I really want to market myself out there so people don't think that I'm mean or I'm stuck up all the time," Rose said.

Why, is that a problem? Rose has been extremely cooperative with the media since joining the Bulls.

"A lot of people (think that)," he said with a laugh. "They say I don't talk or none of that stuff. I like to prove them wrong. I'll be happy just to get in any commercial right now. I'm just waiting. Hopefully it's coming."

Maybe Rose can pick up a few pointers today when he meets up with Wade for the first time. The Bulls will take on the Miami Heat in a national cable broadcast at American Airlines Arena.

When asked about Rose by Miami reporters Wednesday, Wade tried to claim that Rose is more athletic now than Wade was as a rookie.

But the No. 1 draft pick wasn't buying that line.

"I appreciate him saying that, but he's way more athletic than me," Rose said. "The stuff he does, I've been amazed at. For him to say that, I appreciate it.

"I haven't really watched his games (this season). But my friends call me all the time and say that he's done something. He's got a lot of fans here, and some of my friends are fans. So I hear about him all the time."

The Bulls will have their hands full with Wade, the league's top scorer at 29.0 points per game. The Bulls' defense has been porous both inside and on the perimeter lately, and Wednesday's 40-point explosion by Detroit guard Rodney Stuckey wasn't the only example.

In recent weeks, New Jersey's Vince Carter scored 39 points against the Bulls, Clippers forward Zach Randolph had 30, Charlotte rookie guard D.J. Augustin and Memphis forward Rudy Gay poured in 29 each, while Boston center Kendrick Perkins tripled his season average with 25 points last Friday.

Asked what the Bulls can do to remedy the problem against Wade and Miami, coach Vinny Del Negro used his favorite phrase - "There are no easy answers" - and tacked on some other suggestions.

"You just play hard," Del Negro said. "You have to rebound and be physical all the time, but especially on the road. Wade will be no different. Teams double-team him every game and he still throws up 30 or whatever. We've got to be efficient with the basketball, control the glass. We're going to have to go down there and go to work.

"Defensively, we've switched up a few things. We've got to do a better job controlling the paint. Without Drew (Gooden) in there, that's not as easy to do and we weren't very good at it with him."

Gooden (sprained right ankle) is not expected to play on this road trip, which continues with stops in Atlanta and New Jersey.