Crowning the Ultimate Basketball Hotbed of America, Championship Edition
Our quest to determine which location has served as the biggest hotbed for NBA-caliber talent in recent years rolls on. At first, we began with Washington, D.C., Chicago, Los Angeles and New York City all in the mix for the title, but two have already been stricken from the competition.
As a reminder, we're still only looking at players who will suit up during the 2015-16 season. Players are eligible to compete if the high school they graduated from was within an hour's drive of the city in question.
Yes, that means Taj Gibson, who was born in Brooklyn and began his education there, is still representing the West Coast, since he transferred to Stoneridge Prep for his sophomore and junior years. Similarly, Kevin Love will not be suiting up for Los Angeles, because despite entering the world in Santa Monica and attending UCLA for his college career, he played high school ball in Lake Oswego, Oregon.
With those qualifications firmly in mind, here's how we arrived at our championship matchup, as dictated by your votes:
| 2 vs. 3 | No. 2 Chicago, IL (79.9 percent) | No. 3 Washington, D.C. (20.1 percent) |
| 1 vs. 4 | No. 1 Los Angeles, CA (89.4 percent) | No. 4 New York, NY (10.6 percent) |
Time For The Final Game
| PG | Russell Westbrook | Derrick Rose |
| SG | James Harden | Dwyane Wade |
| SF | Trevor Ariza | Jabari Parker |
| PF | Taj Gibson | Kevin Garnett |
| C | Nikola Vucevic | Anthony Davis |
Both cities served as clear-cut favorites during the semifinals, but now they're pitted against one another in a much tougher clash.
As for Chicago, there's just something about the Windy City that never ceases production of high-quality NBA talents. Though the playground scene is falling apart in plenty of locations across the country, the sport as a whole is still thriving in Illinois' most famous spot, and the city keeps developing elite players.
Chicago, Illinois
In addition to the names actually lining up for Chicago, there are plenty more high-quality NBA players represented in the heatmap up above. Patrick Beverley, Tony Allen, Iman Shumpert, Robert Covington and Jahlil Okafor could form a potent All-Chicago second team, and that's still excluding guys such as JaVale McGee, Shannon Brown and Evan Turner.
Thirteen from the city itself played in the Association during the 2014-15 campaign, with a handful more checking in from just outside in neighboring suburbs.
But a wealth of talent doesn't necessarily mean this squad is loaded with current superstars.
We don't know what Derrick Rose is now that he's coming off so many surgeries and has struggled to remain effective unless he's had multiple days between appearances. Dwyane Wade has trouble playing a full season, and has stopped excelling on defense in an effort to conserve energy for the scoring end.
In the frontcourt, Kevin Garnett is but a shell of his old self—still effective in certain areas, of course—while Jabari Parker is both trying to gain footing in the league and recover from an ACL tear of his own. Anthony Davis is the clear star here, serving as the 22-year-old MVP candidate who figures to get even better after his historic showings in 2014-15, but is he enough to stave off a stacked Los Angeles lineup?
Los Angeles, California
During the previous season, 18 different players born in Los Angeles proper dressed for one of the NBA's 30 squads—five more than Chicago. That total grows substantially when the surrounding area is included.
Though we don't have enough time and space to list all of the smaller cities adjacent to L.A. (which qualify as part of the metro area), there are so many notable ones. James Harden went to Artesia High School in Lakewood, California. Studio City boasts the Holiday brothers—Jrue with the New Orleans Pelicans, and Justin, who is now with the Atlanta Hawks. Compton claims DeMar DeRozan, Tyson Chandler, Tayshaun Prince and plenty others. Trevor Ariza and Amir Johnson received their secondary education in Playa del Rey.
Is it any wonder that Los Angeles boasts such a plethora of talents? Even the second team—Jrue Holiday, DeRozan, Paul Pierce, Johnson and Chandler—would be quite competitive.
Unfortunately for Chicago, it has to play against the Tinseltown starters. And that means going head-to-head with two premier MVP candidates in the backcourt.
Russell Westbrook and Harden make for a flat-out ridiculous guard combination, and they already have some established chemistry from their mutual time with the Oklahoma City Thunder. Plus, with Ariza and Gibson cleaning up behind them, they can focus all their energy on scoring.
There are certainly weaknesses in the Los Angeles lineup—the lack of rim protection at center, for example—but the star power does a lot to cover them up.
Expert's Champion
It has to be Los Angeles.
Though Davis is the best player on the court for either team, there are too many uncertainties littering the Chicago lineup.
We don't know what to expect from Rose, who has been massively inconsistent since going down an injury-plagued road. Even when he's been healthy for relatively lengthy stretches, he's struggled to remain effective on the offensive end, posting nauseating shooting percentages far too often. Joining him in the backcourt is a 33-year-old Wade, one who can't dial it up like he used to in his prime for the Miami Heat.
Don't get me wrong. That's still a strong backcourt.
It's just not one that can hope to compete with Westbrook and Harden, both of whom are coming off seasons that left them as strong contenders for the league's most prestigious individual award.
Sure, Davis destroys Nikola Vucevic in the one-on-one battle at center. Underrated as the USC product may be while playing for the Orlando Magic, he's not nearly on the same level as The Brow when lining up at either end of the court.
But the rest of the frontcourt is a fairly even battle. Though Parker and Garnett are the bigger names, they're both too far removed from their primes—the former on the early side, the latter on the later one—to boast any sort of significant advantage over Gibson and Ariza. Plus, the second-year Milwaukee Buck is playing out of position at the 3.
Davis' presence alone means this game is going to be close. But with Chicago failing to establish clear-cut superiority at any other spot in the lineup, this championship clash belongs to the City of Angels.
People's Champion
The people have spoken. After 3,814 votes were cast before 8 a.m. ET on Monday, September 14, a champion has emerged.
With 63 percent of the ballots cast in its favor, Chicago now gets to accept the crown as the ultimate hotbed of basketball talent in America. Age and injuries aren't going to hold Derrick Rose and Dwyane Wade back, while Anthony Davis is just too much for Nikola Vucevic and the rest of the Los Angeles starting five to corral.
Congratulations to the Windy City. Go forth and celebrate accordingly.
