Dwyane Wade Signs With the Chicago Bulls

This was a game of chicken and the Miami Heat lost.  Dwyane Wade has signed with the Chicago Bulls for two years and a total of $47M.  Miami only offered $40M over two years.  Still this wasn’t as easy as dollars and cents.  Wade has been the heart and soul of this team since his rookie year in 2003-04.  He’s a 12 time all-star who helped bring three championships to Miami.  I would have liked to have seen Wade stay his entire career with Miami but that is becoming more and more of a rarity.  Just doesn’t seem right for him to be a Bull.  Again it is more complicated than that. 

Wade took less money to get Chris Bosh and LeBron James to Miami.  It paid off in the form of two titles amongst four Finals appearances.  Then LeBron hit the market as a free agent and Wade opted out of his deal to allow James to be re-signed which never happened.  That same offseason Bosh got a big deal after being wooed in free agency and the team signed Luol Deng while Wade again took less money.  Was Miami supposed to give Wade the big deals at the end of his career to make up for his financial shortcomings throughout his career?  There is a lot of chatter to that affect though it doesn’t seem like Miami is on board with that thought process.   The entire situation was detailed by ESPN.com here before he even signed.    

So Wade is now in Chicago with a new look roster that includes Rajon Rondo, Robin Lopez, Nikola Mirotic, and the star of the team, Jimmy Butler.  This should be interesting to see how this team works.  It could be really really good or really really bad.  If nothing else they are poised to be a top four, maybe even top three team in the East.  Again that assumes they can make this work.

Miami isn’t exactly in a great spot.  Chris Bosh’s status is still up in the air.  They did resign Hassan Whiteside but he has to be wondering if he made the right decision.  Deng and Joe Johnson are gone.  Goran Dragic and Justin Winslow are still there but I’m not exactly sure where the Heat’s offense will come from.   It will be interesting to see how good this team will be.