Dwyane Wade To Sign With Bulls

By Kevin Schroeder
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Updated: July 6, 2016

Dwyane Wade intends to sign a 2-year, $47M deal with the Bulls. Okay, let’s get the negatives out of the way: it’s a lot of money for a 34-year-old with knee problems. He’s not a good shooter and is a questionable at best fit in Hoiberg’s system. We got that out of the way? Everyone done complaining about that? Okay, good, now let’s hit the jump and look at why this is a pretty nice move.

First the novelty, Tommy Edwards has somebody to introduce as “from Chicago.” I know Wade’s from Robbins. Close enough for our purposes. But for real now, if the Bulls were going to totally rebuild, they would need to trade Butler. For such a trade to make sense, the Bulls would have needed a top 10 pick this year, another first rounder this year or lottery pick next year, and a solid player. I’m a huge fan of JGB, but unless he takes a decent-sized step forward, you’re probably not going to win a championship with him as your best player unless the team is built like the Spurs were two years ago. (Since then, Kawhi Leonard’s really advanced his game.) Having said that, guys like Jimmy don’t grow on trees. Taking one draft pick and a couple role players for Butler makes no sense, because unless you hit on a real superstar with that pick, you’re going to be mostly right back where you were in a few years when the player you picked starts to really develop. Admittedly, there is some variance here depending on how long the guy you pick spent in college. But that just adds another dimension to this. If you’re going to draft anyone over 20, you’d better be certain he’s going to be a superstar or the whole thing’s going to be a wash. The right offer wasn’t there, so re-tooling rather than rebuilding was probably the right idea. Now, the Rondo signing doesn’t make much sense. He’s a divisive player, not a particularly good shooter, past his prime, and doesn’t fit in Hoiberg’s system. As I said earlier, everything but “divisive player” can be said about Wade as well and add the injury problems to the rest. However, going into next summer coming off an at least pretty good season with Dwyane Wade and space for one max contract is preferable to going into next summer coming off a lousy year with no top-flight players but Butler and room for 2 max contracts. What’s the selling point there? Why do any stars pick Chicago when just about everyone will have at least a pretty good amount of cap space? Wade’s contract is guaranteed for both years, but Rondo’s has a team option for the second year, so there’s still some flexibility here. And at the end of the day, whether you love or hate the move, at least GarPax aren’t just sitting on their hands again. They’re aggressively re-shaping the team. As far as Hoiberg and his system goes, apparently he watched tape with Rondo and they’re convinced he’s a fit, for what that’s worth, but if he’s not, this is the NBA we’re talking about. Unless you’re talking about a coach like the Zen Master or Pop, talent is far more important. Tyronn Lue may very well be a great coach in the future, but does anyone really think he’s why the Cavaliers won the championship? Me neither. The Bulls didn’t do anything to hurt themselves long-term here; low risk for a potentially high reward. Also, this allows JGB to move to the 3, where he’s probably a better fit. It’s worth a shot. Let’s see how it goes. See Red.

Twitter: @KSchroeder_312

E-mail: schroeder.giig@gmail.com

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