Friedell is a graduate of the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University and joined ESPNChicago.com for its launch in April 2009. Even Alonzo Mourning, a Miami Heat legend, left for New Jersey for a few seasons before coming back, winning a championship and retiring with the franchise he identified with most.
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On Friday, Team USA was in Chicago as well as Dwyane Wade who had his introductory press conference to the Chicago Bulls and he stated vividly that this Bulls squad is “Jimmy Butler’s team”.
Jimmy Butler remains a Chicago Bull and believes he is not above anyone. He shot 46.2 percent from the field and 37.1 percent from beyond the arc. This is Jimmy Butler’s team. “Be a starter for the Bulls. I think they’re going to be great”. “He’s happy for me”, Butler said.
“I have no rift with Pat Riley”, Wade said.
“Let’s clear up the notion that Pat Riley orchestrated me getting out of Miami because he didn’t offer the money I wanted”, Wade said.
That was fine five years ago before the Golden State Warriors changed the geometry of the game, but in a league now focused on spreading the floor with three-point shooters, the Bulls may have no choice to go old school. “But he’s easy to play with and he’s extremely versatile. Because I’m going to be texting him and continue to try to build this camaraderie before we even get to training camp, make sure us three as leaders are on the same page (for) what we need to do to be successful”. They pursued a deal for Kris Dunn of Providence, and made overtures to Minnesota for the No. 5 pick and explosive guard Zach LaVine, as The Vertical reported on draft night.
Make no mistake: Wade’s one of the most influential figures in the Bulls organization now. The Bulls would be a great fit for a superb playmaker like Paul. “To have Dwyane show them way, I don’t think you can put a value on that”. And if you get a chance – you get him or Draymond Green, they become the best players in the game. When a reporter asked what he thought of the possibility of confrontations between him, and Butler, he basically told them that there would not be any.
“(A gold medal) is another thing I never expected to happen, being from Tomball, Texas”, Butler said.
Recently, Carmelo Anthony chimed in on the topic. Rose and Noah are now with the New York Knicks while Gasol took his act to the San Antonio Spurs.
“I don’t think the masses really understand how hard those decisions are and what is going through our minds as athletes during those decisions”, Anthony said of free agency. “He works hard, man. Jimmy’s a workaholic”.
Wade also said playing in Chicago was always a dream, recalling how he watched Michael Jordan’s Bulls growing up. “With his confidence and his work ethic it’s going to continue to grow”. He remembered Shaq’s introduction to the Heat in 2004, O’Neal declaring the team as Wade’s, and implemented the same response to these Bulls.
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This is summer, when everything is peaches and cream, no one has any squabbles, there’s no power struggle, and the sky is the limit for every team (except the Lakers and Sixers, pretty much). I was 9 years old, watching on an itty bitty TV, and I said, ‘That’s what I want to do, that’s who I want to be. He’s finally been photographed in his Bulls uniform. All the individual stuff never really mattered.
