When Lebron finally earned his highly coveted first ring this past summer, it was as if it was finally the coronation for one man, "King" James. But let's not forget that Dwyane Wade is on that throne as well, so that means so is Chicago indirectly.
Wade winning the title this year is symbolic for the city of Chicago reigning superior as the best city for hoops right now. I have a bevy of reasons to support that claim.
Let's start with the recent surge of NBA lottery picks, #1 picks and incoming College freshmen. For starters, last years MVP and former #1 pick Derrick "Pooh" Rose is from Chicago and went to Simeon High School. This year's #1 pick, Anthony Davis is from the Chi and next year's top high school baller, Jabari Parker also hails from the aforementioned Simeon Academy.
Secondly, you can't discount the effect of Michael Jordan. Most of these kids grew up absorbing and subconsciously learned the ways of dominance by witnessing first hand the legacy of Michael Jordan. If Mike exposed a superior brand of hooping to the world via the Dream Team and influenced foreign greats such as Dirk, Tony Parker, Manu and Kobe in the US, then imagine what his impact was in the backyard of where he played professionally.
Lastly, and most importantly, Chi hoopers are the best because of the city in which they emerge. I've played "Utah" in Harlem, "21" in Detroit and only in the City of Chicago do they call fouls and other rule violations in a game of "Varsity."
A golden rule when you play "Varsity" is that if you shoot a shot and it comes off, you have to defend the rebounder/offensive possessor. There's a lot of pride to say the least in playing dee after you miss a shot in a game of "Varsity", and you can see that defensive tenacity and city toughness in Chicago hoopers such as Dwyane Wade, Derrick Rose, Evan Turner, Sean Marion, Kevin Garnett, Andre Iguodola, Quentin Richardson, Iman Shumpert and most recently Anthony Davis.
Remember, the tough city(understatement), defense and MJ are the main reasons Chicago reigns supreme in hoops.
