The spotlight and story lines might focus on Derrick Rose versus Michael Beasley come Friday in Miami, the first two picks in last June's NBA draft facing each other for the first time in a regular-season game with a national TV audience watching. | NBA page

The more fitting comparison, however, is between Rose and Dwyane Wade, two Chicago-area kids whose games - even with Rose merely a rookie - already are similar.

Wade, a former NBA Finals most valuable player, knows it.

"Derrick Rose has taken the league by storm with his athletic ability," Wade told Miami reporters Wednesday. "He's one of the best penetrators and finishers that the league has already. And he's going to keep coming at us.

"I think he's a little more athletic than me. He's kind of like me when I came into the league. He's an attacker. He throws his body in there. He's a great finisher, just how quick he gets off his feet and how high he jumps."

All to which Rose would say, like, wow.

"I never patterned my game to be like (Wade's) because that's too hard," Rose said. "I just play my way. He is athletic, I'll tell you that. He's a great player. I watched him when he was in college. I really liked his game."

Heat coach Erik Spoelstra, who served as an assistant during Wade's rookie season, seconds Wade's assessment.

"When I watch (Rose), it reminds me of watching Dwyane his rookie year," Spoelstra said in Miami. "With the ball, he's as fast as anyone end to end, and he can get into the smallest of gaps like Dwyane can - in a crowd, and all of a sudden he'll emerge and he's at the rim. He's got a real explosive gift that separates him from so many players in the league."

Even though Wade is a Richards High graduate who often spends off-seasons here, Rose said he's never met the Heat guard, who is leading the league in scoring at 29 points per game.

Rose's relationship with Beasley dates to them being teammates at the McDonald's All-American game. It grew during the countless joint appearances they made leading up to the draft as the presumed top two picks.

They've already faced each other as NBA players, albeit during a July 7 summer-league game in Orlando that the Heat won easily. Beasley dominated a matchup with Joakim Noah to score 28 points in 23 minutes, Rose committed a game-high five turnovers and Miami prevailed, 94-70.

Even that backdrop, and getting outplayed by fellow rookie Mario Chalmers, couldn't shake Rose from his team-first mind-set.

"I'm just looking at (Friday) as a regular game like I've been taking all my games," Rose said. "I'm still trying to be aggressive. We haven't talked about who should've been No. 1, none of that stuff.

"It really didn't matter. We just want to win the game like any other game."

Beasley, who is averaging 13.6 points on 44.8 percent shooting and 5.0 rebounds in 25.9 minutes, took a similarly politically correct course, though in his more extroverted and colorful way.

"Me and Derrick Rose, that's irrelevant," Beasley said in Miami. "It's Miami and Chicago. But I've been thinking about this game for a long time, just because they didn't pick me. It's nothing against them. It's natural. It's my competitive nature."

Beasley, a Washington native, even went so far to suggest Rose's Chicago ties that include agent B.J. Armstrong aided Rose going as the No. 1 pick. The Bulls long have disputed that Rose's local ties factored into their draft-day decision.

"He had more people in his corner," Beasley said. "He's obviously doing great for him. When it comes down to it, if the Wizards had the first pick, I'd be pretty upset if they didn't pick me-hometown kid, great player, good all-around guy."

Rose is averaging 17.7 points on 47.4 percent shooting and 6.2 assists in 38.3 minutes, tops among rookies.

The Bulls hired Vinny Del Negro on June 10, well after they had won the draft lottery and only 16 days before a decision on the No. 1 pick had to be made. Yet Del Negro had scouted both players extensively in his management role with Phoenix and, in conclusion, knows this:

"Michael will have a great career. For our situation, we all felt Derrick was definitely our guy. That's not a slight to anybody. We're just happy with Derrick."

(c) 2008, Chicago Tribune. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.