Far too often lately, it’s become easy to forget what Chicago basketball is.
Not Bulls basketball.
Please, that’s what’s actually clouded things from outside observers. After all, the casual fan equates the NBA team to the state of basketball throughout the city.
Big mistake in this case.
No, we’re talking the raw essence of Chicago basketball, and what it means to the city. The players it has always, and continues, to produce.
The hope at the start of this season was that this weekend’s All-Star Game and festivities would strip away some of the muck that the Bulls have built on the window, but even that is in jeopardy for the host city.