SELECT COP: Adidas Originals Superstar 80s “Derrick Rose 25th Birthday”

Despite some bumps in the road along the way, Derrick Rose has already accomplished quite a bit in his basketball career. After winning two state championships in high school, he went on to lead the University of Memphis to a NCAA national championship game as a freshman before bouncing straight to the NBA after only one year of college ball. He was selected #1 overall in the 2008 NBA Draft by the Bulls where he has more than lived up to expectations, having taken Chicago to the playoffs every year he’s played, including an Eastern Conference Finals appearance in 2011. That same year, Rose also took home league MVP honors, making him the youngest player in NBA history to win the award.

D Rose was already on the fast track to NBA immortality when he suffered a torn ACL in Game 1 of the Bulls’ 2012 playoff run. The injury not only prevented him from finishing the playoffs, but also kept him out of the entire next season. His long and unfortunate forced absence was closely monitored and, at times, scrutinized by the media, making it one of the most controversial topics in NBA circles last year. His tedious rehabbing and hard-fought comeback campaign have also been well-chronicled, and even without being on the court, Derrick Rose has managed to remain one of the biggest stories in the world of basketball.

With such a robust resume and personal backstory under his belt, it’s hard to believe that Derrick Rose turned just 25 years old this past week. With so much already behind him, Rose is preparing for his much-anticipated return to the NBA hardwood with plenty to prove and the prime of his career still ahead of him. And through it all, adidas has been by his side and on his feet. They have their biggest basketball endorser locked up for years to come and have done a great job of keeping their primo signature line in the spotlight even without the benefit of its namesake being able to show it off on the NBA floor for a while.

In addition to his yearly signature model, adidas has also made strides to parlay Rose’s popularity into the lifestyle market as well, sporadically creating off-court models for him through the Originals category. Their latest offering might just be the best we’ve seen, as adidas celebrated Derrick Rose’s recent 25th birthday with the release of a special edition Superstar 80s featuring his birth year (1988) on the heel and a luxurious blend of tonal black tumbled leather and animal-striped accents on the upper. The black and blue combo is a nod to Rose’s favorite colors, as well as a symbolic callout to the rough courts of Chicago where he first learned to play basketball as a kid.

With everything coming together nicely for a clean and sophisticated street look, the cherry on top is added by the gold foil tongue logo with Rose’s face carved out in the same iconic style that has immortalized so many other adidas legends before him. Following the likes of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Stan Smith and Franz Beckenbauer, the face-graphic tongue label is an illustrious distinction not handed out lightly by adidas, and that’s really what makes this such a cool release. Seeing D Rose honored as a living legend is a bold statement by adidas and a poignant bridge between the brand’s past heritage and their heroes of the future.

Derrick Rose’s “Birthday” Superstar 80s released last Friday, October 4th, on his actual birthday, but we thought the shoe deserved a little extra spotlight after the fact as part of our Select Cop series. While it might not have prompted campouts and release hysteria, as far as we’re concerned, this is one of adidas’ most underrated drops of 2013. Continue on for a full gallery of images, and if you’re having second thoughts about overlooking this sleeper gem, you may still be able to find some remnants of this special moment in adidas history hanging around at retailers, as well as adidas.com.