There would not have been a single disappointed Chicago Bulls fan if the only max contract player that the Chicago Bulls signed was Dwayne Wade.
Instead, the major free agent signing that summer was Carlos Boozer, and the super-team of Dwayne Wade, Chris Bosh, and Lebron was formed.
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| 5 YEARS AGO, signing Dwayne Wade would have brought NBA Championships; today, signing Dwayne Wade brings optimism for being over .500 the next two seasons |
Dwayne Wade was a huge catalyst for bringing the Miami super-team of himself, Bosh, and Lebron together because of his relationships with the two players, but also having given up salary in order to fit their contracts under the Miami Heat's salary cap at the time.
However, now that Lebron is gone and the team has been mediocre due to significant injuries to Chris Bosh and others, Dwayne Wade was asking that he be compensated for his past loyalty and his patience through the rebuilding process.
After sacrificing at least $25M over the years in order to help the franchise, the Miami Heat's highest offer of 2 years $40M was a long ways short of the 2 years $50M he was asking, as well as, short of the Denver Nuggets' 2 years $52M offer.
When the Miami Heat front office and owner would not budge, it was Dwayne Wade that put in a call to his hometown team, the Chicago Bulls, asking them to make room for him on the roster at a discounted 2 years $47M.
This past season, Wade averaged 19.1 PPG, 4.1 RPG, 4.6 APG, 1.07 SPG, 0.57 BPG.
Those averages rose in the playoffs to 21.4 PPG, 5.6 RPG, 4.3 APG, 0.79 SPG, 0.93 BPG.
In adding Dwayne Wade, the Chicago Bulls were forced to trade Mike Dunleavy to the Cleveland Cavaliers, and trade Jose Calderon to the Los Angeles Lakers.
It's left the Chicago Bulls with a pretty nice line-up prepared to win now:
- PG Rondo / Grant / Dinwiddie
- SG Wade / Valentine / Snell
- SF Butler / McDermott
- PF Gibson / Mirotic
- C Lopez / Portis / Felicio
But the signing of Dwayne Wade brings a karmic victory to the Chicago Bulls.
5 years ago, Wade said that the Chicago Bulls were an organization without loyalty to their former players.
However, today, it is Dwayne Wade's dissatisfaction with Pat Riley and the Miami Heat that drove him out of town. And now the Chicago Bulls organization will have the opportunity to prove just how wrong Wade's comments were 5 years ago.
What do you think about the Chicago Bulls acquisition of Dwayne Wade? Will he put the Chicago Bulls over the top in the Eastern Conference? Tell us what you think in the comments below!
