The Dwyane Wade Chicago Experiment is mercifully over. Did ya’ll have a good time?
That question is directed at Wade and the Bulls front office. I think it’s safe to say the fans of this once proud organization most decidedly did not enjoy his brief homecoming. The whole thing reeked of ego, greed, mismanagement and laziness. Gar Forman and John Paxson wanting to make a splash signing to stay relevant, thus going in a direction completely opposite from their promised “younger and more athletic” campaign. Dwyane playing a petty game of “call my bluff” to a Heat organization that he felt was disrespecting all he had accomplished and sacrificed over the years. In other words, he wanted money the Heat weren’t willing to give.
Funny how things change. After just one short year, Wade spent Sunday evening discussing his decision to agree on a buyout with the Bulls in order to explore other opportunities with winning basketball teams. It’s up to you whether or not you believe him, but Wade sounded in his interview with the Chicago Tribune like a man who has something to prove and still wants to win.
“I just felt it was time for me, turning 36, that I want to be competing for a championship…What it’s about for me is looking at the right role. I feel I can still play.” – Dwyane Wade
For those reasons, the most likely suitors for Wade (according to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN) are the Cleveland Cavaliers and San Antonio Spurs, with the now Carmelo-infused Thunder being another candidate. Not a bad list to choose from. Funny, though, that winning a championship wasn’t nearly as important to Wade as getting paid last summer. Sure, the Bulls had Jimmy Butler and brought in Rajon Rondo. But if Wade has any sense for the competition in the league he’s spent 14 years playing in, he knew the Bulls weren’t legitimate contenders when he signed that contract last summer.
He wanted money. Sure, the idea of fulfilling his childhood dream of playing for his hometown Bulls swayed him to Chicago rather than Denver. Playing with his Marquette brother Jimmy played a factor too. But let’s be real. It was mostly about that $47 million the Bulls offered, and a chance to stick it to Micky Arison and Pat Riley.
Was it worth it, Dwyane? How about you, GarPax?
What Happened
On the floor last season, Wade gave the Bulls about what you’d expect from a 35 year-old veteran. He played 60 of 82 games, averaging 18.3 points (43.4% FG), 4.5 rebounds and 3.8 assists in 29.9 minutes per game. But after a surprisingly strong start, Dwyane’s weakness as a three point shooter (31%) became a serious problem in Fred Hoiberg’s offense. He can’t run the floor like he used to, and the Bulls offense struggled most of the season to play at Fred’s desired pace when Wade was on the floor. Yes, Butler’s isolation possessions were counter-intuitive to Fred’s style. But adding Wade only exacerbated the problem.
The most frustrating part of Wade’s performance on the court, however, was his complete and blatant lack of effort on the defensive end. This is the NBA, Dwyane. You’ve had a great career, but just because you’re 35 doesn’t mean you’re allowed to play absolutely zero defense. Take some pride in your work. If your wife is blaming your kids’ poor defensive effort in their basketball games on you, maybe it’s not an overblown criticism.
That lack of effort on defense brings us to the biggest disappointment of the Wade Experiment. Paxson and Forman were both so excited to brag about the great leadership Dwyane would bring to their young team. A role model for their young core and an example of leadership for Jimmy, the rising star with questionable leadership skills.
…So much for that idea.
The biggest example of Wade’s “leadership” came after a bad loss to Atlanta in January. In the locker room following the game, Wade called out his younger teammates for not caring enough about winning.
“I don’t know what happened. I don’t know how you fix it. It just doesn’t mean enough for guys around here to want to win ballgames. And it pisses me off. But I can’t be frustrated and I can’t care too much for these guys. They have to care for themselves…I’m 35 years old, man. I got three championships. It shouldn’t hurt me more than it hurts these young guys. They have to want it.” – Dwyane Wade
Great leadership, indeed. Butler, the Bulls’ leader-in-training, followed Wade’s lead and reamed out his young teammates in a similar fashion. While you can’t knock Jimmy for his efforts in the 76 games he played last season, Wade had no leg to stand on with such accusations. How exactly can a veteran who plays zero defense and routinely skips practices point his finger at the young and impressionable players he’s supposed to be leading? Rhetorical. He can’t.
Rondo, the other veteran brought in last summer, defended his young teammates against Wade and Butler’s verbal lashing with an Instagram post that went viral.
That sounds a hell of a lot more like a veteran leader than Wade’s whining and buck-passing. Real leaders shoulder the blame and encourage the young guys. Real leaders look inwards to fix things and hold themselves to a higher standard than their colleagues. That’s why Rondo did the things Wade didn’t do. He went to watch the kids play in Summer League immediately after signing his contract, offering guidance and support. He practiced with them. He showed up to the gym early and stayed late to help the Bulls youngsters in any way he could. For those reasons, Rondo was adored and appreciated by his young teammates.
From that Atlanta loss on, the Bulls locker room was irreparably fractured for the remainder of the season. Wade and Jimmy were on one side. Rondo and the kids on the other. Sure, they squeaked into the playoffs. But you’re foolish to think that the Bulls’ collapse after a surprising 2-0 start against Boston was due only to the loss of Rondo’s production on the stat sheets. When Rondo went down, the young role players lost their leader. They had little interest in playing hard for Dwyane or Jimmy.
And that’s how the Wade Experiment (or the Three Alphas Experiment, if you prefer) ended. Jimmy traded, Rondo waived and Wade so desperate to get out of town that he agreed to return $8 million of the $23.8 million the Bulls owed him this season.
Now, the Bulls begin what will surely be a challenging rebuild. They could be approaching the second year of a rebuild right now. But Gar and Paxson, who both so desperately wanted to get Wade into town for so many years, couldn’t resist the splash signing and marketing tool an aging Dwyane represented. They’ll tell us for years to come that the Wade move was a wise short-term investment. But all they really did was delay the inevitable decision to either trade Jimmy and rebuild or keep Jimmy and build the right pieces around him. All the while wasting what amounts to – post buyout – $39 million.
So much for younger and more athletic. So much for a great veteran leader in the locker room. So much for the 2016-17 season.
I wish I could say “Thanks for everything, Dwyane.”
But after watching this trainwreck unfold, I can’t help but feel like “Thanks for nothing, Dwyane” is more appropriate.
