The Miami Heat travel to Chicago to play the struggling Bulls at the United Center tonight. The Bulls are coming off a devastating loss on Wednesday night where they gave up a 19-4 run in the final three minutes of play to blow a ten point lead to the Atlanta Hawks. It was the Bulls' third loss in five games and gave the Bulls a disappointing record of 23-24, good enough for 8th place in the lowly eastern conference. After the game star players Jimmy Butler and Dwyane Wade had some strong words for their teammates.
Bulls stars rip teammates
Shortly after the game, Butler and Wade seemed to have a joint approach in the way they would approach their teammates and a season that seems to be slipping out of grasp.
"I can look at Jimmy and say Jimmy is doing his job. I think Jimmy can look at me and say Dwyane is doing his job," said Wade. I don't know if we can keep going down the line and be able to say that." (via ESPN).
Butler echoed a similar sentiment when asked about the team's performance that night.
"I want to play with guys that care, guys that play hard, that want to do well for this organization, that want to win games, added Butler. [..] I don't think that's happening right now, I really don't." (via ESPN).
On a night where Butler poured in 40 points and Wade pitched in 33, it was clear that the Bulls backcourt were frustrated with their young teammates and the production put forth by them.
Role players strike back
After Butler and Wade's remarks, the Chicago Bulls role players took to their social media accounts to seemingly respond to the comments made by their star players.
First up was backup point guard Jerian Grant, who took to Twitter.
Tough loss, that hurt for sure. But I play hard TO WIN every second I'm out there, and grind everyday for everything I have.
— Jerian Grant (@JerianGrant) January 26, 2017
Later that night, point guard Rajon Rondo took to Instagram to fire back at Butler and Wade, defending the young players while also questioning the Bulls' leadership.
In the post, Rondo featured a picture of himself with former Boston teammates, Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce.
"My vets would never go to the media. They would come to the team. My vets didn't pick and choose when they wanted to bring it. [..] When we lost, they wouldn't blame us. They took responsibility and got in the gym.
They showed the young guys what it meant to work," Rondo said in his post on Instagram. "[..] When you isolate everyone, you can't win consistently. I may be a lot of things but I'm not a bad teammate. [..] The young guys work. They show up. They don't deserve blame. If anything is questionable, it's the leadership." (via Instagram: @rajonrondo).
The Bulls' future
Earlier today, the Bulls players, coaching staff, and front office all met before answering some questions from the media. Coach Fred Hoiberg said that the Bulls will "move on" (via ESPN) repeatedly throughout his press conference. Butler, Wade, and Rondo also added that there was no animosity among the three, with Butler going as far as to say that he will still go to "war" (via ESPN) with Rondo.
It has also been made clear that all three players were fined for their remarks to the media.
While the Bulls appear to be saying the right things, the future of this roster appears to be uncertain. Before this incident, there were already rumblings that the Bulls were shopping Rondo and power forward Nikola Mirotic around the league. With the NBA trade deadline less than a month away, the rumblings will seemingly only get louder.
The Bulls attempted to avoid a complete rebuild by signing Wade and Rondo in the offseason, but after Wednesday nights remarks, who knows what the front office is thinking? Will Butler be traded? Will coach Fred Hoiberg be fired? Will there be a changing of guard in the front office in regard to John Paxson and Gar Forman? We'll all find out soon enough.
