NEW-LOOK BULLS SEEK FRESH BEGINNING
Chicago, Illinois, is a happening place, politically. US president Barack Obama cut his political teeth as an Illinois senator before he won the most powerful executive post in the world. Hillary Clinton, most likely the country’s next president, was born in Chicago. In basketball, however, the city has been unremarkable in recent times with the Bulls failing to reach the play-off for the first time last season since 2008.
Chastened, Chicago Bulls have assembled a newlook roster with eight fresh faces for the 2016-17 season. Derrick Rose, Pau Gasol and Joakim Noah have all bolted the Bulls stable while veteran free agents, Dwayne Wade and Ranjon Rondo, have come on board. Youthful Jimmy Butler, a two-time All-Star, will be Chicago’s pivotal player in an unpredictable season.
Chicago host Boston Celtics, the most successful franchise in the NBA with 17 titles, at the United Center on Thursday. Although the regular season is rather long with 82 matches for each team, the Bulls will look for a positive start in their quest for a play-off place in the competitive Eastern Conference.
The six titles Chicago won in the 90s in two three peats when Michael Jordan was the reigning god of the city is now a distant memory. Maybe the Bulls have to take inspiration from Chicago Cubs who have reached the baseball World Series final for the first time since 1945. For the record, the Cubs’ third match against Cleveland Indians will be played here on Friday with the Series tied at 1-1.
Wade has three championship rings but, at 34, he has his best years behind him. But his decision to come home after leaving Miami Heat has reinvigorated the franchise.
Followed by a couple of injury-plagued years, Wade started 73 matches in 2015-16. His scoring average of 19 wasn’t bad either. Rondo, who topped the assists charts with 11.7 in the previous season, will be hoping to steady the rocky Bulls ship along with Wade. Above all, Butler has to serve something special this season. NBA commissioner Adam Silver would have heaved a sigh of relief after the new season got off in Cleveland on Tuesday without any protest. The US national anthem, which is sung before every match in all major leagues here, is being increasingly used to make a statement. A couple of players knelt in pre-season games to voice their anger at police brutalities against African-Americans.
American football star Colin Kaepernick, a vocal critic of racial injustice and high-handed police action, started a revolution of sorts by his refusal to stand up for the national anthem since his team’s third pre-season game on August 26. Many people are emulating him across sports while some have criticised the quarterback of San Francisco 49ers for “disrespecting” the flag.
Kaepernick, who was born to a white mother and a black father, has no plans to halt his protest any time soon. “I’m not going to stand up to show pride in the flag of a country that oppresses black people and people of colour. To me, this is bigger than football and it would be selfish on my part to look the other way. There are bodies on the street and people are getting paid leave and getting away with murder,” he told reporters recently.
The NBA has a rule calling for players and coaches to stand during the national anthem but the American Football League doesn’t.
Top basketball stars including LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony and Dwayne Wade don’t mince words when it comes to their opinion about issues. James keeps reminding people about the tough life that confronts young African-Americans in his native Akron.
Anthony has praised Kaepernick’s protest while highlighting the need for action in communities that are suffering at the hands of police. The Knicks star has said that police action in recent years reminded him of the 60s when interracial relationship was at its nadir in the USA.
Along with Wade, Kyle Korver and Chris Paul, Anthony released a video on the official NBA website on the opening day of the season, calling for unity across the country with an explicit reference to the #blacklivesmatter movement. The video features uniformed white police officers playing street basketball with children.
The US has a proud lineage of outspoken athletes, starting from heavyweight champion Jack Johnson in the early 20th century. Muhammad Ali was, of course, the doyen in the group. The Black Power salute of Tommy Smith and John Carlos at the 1968 Olympics was a seminal moment in the history of American sports.
Although the two sprinters paid dearly for their actions, they never regretted their decision to highlight racial inequalities in America. The articulate Kaepernick is the latest torchbearer.