Derrick Rose’s run in with Deltoids McGee on Wednesday night didn’t ruin his All-Star weekend. His bruised right hip kept him from defending his slow-jog-and-passing obstacle course crown on Saturday night, but it didn’t stop him from playing 15 minutes – eight points, four assists, three steals – in the main event.

Rose said his hip bothered him, but ultimately, the injury is nothing serious. From the Tribune: "It was more sore than I thought, but I continued to fight through," said Rose, who was unsure if he'd practice Monday. "I should be fine. I'll keep getting treatment."

Now, to what people want to talk about. Based on all the Rose/Dwyane Wade backcourt comments or the "Look at that behind the back pass to Rose" comments on Twitter, a lot of people spent the All-Star game looking for 2010 free agency connections. The Tribune and Sun-Times gave everyone a taste over the weekend: Wade and Chauncey Billups (not a free agent) had nice things to say about Rose; Chris Paul (not a free agent) pulled him aside to talk point guarding and Bosh discussed Rose’s development.

Personally, I feel Rose's selection to the All-Star team, the mingling it would allow him to participate in, and its effect it would have on free agency has been overstated since Rose's selection was announced. So, if you’re looking for someone to suggest that Wade, Bosh, or anyone else, talking about Rose is a sign of things to come, well, then you’re going to have to look somewhere else. The All-Star game is the place for players to say nice things about other players, and most of their statements were generic, “Yeah, Derrick is great!" quotes.

However, I took something from Stan Van Gundy’s praise of Rose.

"Yeah, while everybody else was fooling around, he was the one guy shooting," Orlando and East All-Star coach Stan Van Gundy said. "That's something as a coach you notice and put in the back of your mind. This is a real serious guy.

"Just watching him in the team meeting and in practice, you become very impressed with his maturity and approach. He isn't as much into the revelry of things as he is into the game itself. Beyond his playing ability, which I was already impressed with, that's impressive."

Beyond his demeanor and work ethic, Van Gundy thinks Rose is the kind of player “who can lift their teams.”

"I look at a lot of these young guys and I have great appreciation for them, but Derrick Rose and Kevin Durant, those two guys in particular, and again not trying to leave anybody else out, but in my mind when I watch them, the thing that I'm impressed with those two guys is they just seem to me that there only interest is to try to win the game.

"It's not about their numbers of their notoriety. It's about lifting their team and Derrick's had to do that taking over the offense in Chicago with not having been there. And Kevin Durant's done that by making more of a commitment on the defensive end of the floor. I have great respect for that."

Not that this comes as a surprise. But considering how little we all really know about Rose, it's nice to hear it come from someone other than Vinny Del Negro or John Paxson.

Erick is a contributor to i94 Sports. You can find his daily thoughts at his site Outside the Clubhouse.