With the dust settling down, the Miami Heat will no longer have Dwyane Wade. He joined the Chicago Bulls, making a hometown return, while having a lot to say about Pat Riley, which anyone can read between the lines and interpret it based on their own opinion about the breakup.
After 13 years with the Heat, including three NBA championships, five finals and one Finals MVP, Wade was once again put as the second or third most important priority by the Heat during the offseason. Their top two? Try to sign Kevin Durant, and re-sign Hassan Whiteside. When that was over, the offer they made him (One year, $10 million according to some accounts initially, raised to $40 million over two years), wasn’t enough.
It’s going to be a lot of stuff said about me and Pat. First of all, I love Pat. He has a job to do. He has a different hat to wear. That hat sometimes is not to be my best friend. That hat is to be the president of the organization and to be a businessman, and that sucks. You love each other, but the business side comes out, and you have to deal with it.
Wade went on to meet with a number of teams, including the Denver Nuggets and the Milwaukee Bucks. The Nuggets offered Wade $52 million over two years, the most anyone had offered him. Wade also met with Heat owner Micky Arison, but the offer never changed. According to reports, Riley never called Wade once during the process.
Wade eventually chose to join the Chicago Bulls on a two-year, $47.5 million contract. Chicago is where Wade grew up, and he played his college basketball not too far away, doing a wonderful job at Marquette in Milwaukee, taking them to the Final Four. He joins Jimmy Butler and Rajon Rondo in what has been referred to as a team with three Alphas, and a lot of questions on how the whole thing will work on a basketball and locker room level.
I’m not saying we’ve hugged and cried and shared tears at this moment, but I love Pat and will always love Pat. And I know he feels the say way about me. He’s a tough cookie, I’ve grown into being a tough one as well. Yeah, we can butt heads at times. I have nothing but the utmost respect and admiration for what he’s been able to do in this game of basketball. I’ve only got 13 years under my belt. He’s got 13 years times 10 under his belt.
Wade is being pretty honest about the whole thing. He admits there were a lot of frustrations regarding the whole free agency process, especially with Riley. HOwever, he probably knows it’s business, and the writing was on the wall considering how the Heat have treated him in each offseason. If Riley actually didn’t call him once during the whole “courting” process, it probably shows he didn’t really intend on holding on to him, not for the money the Heat were assuming Wade would ask for.
Wade? He seems to be moving on. Whatever grievances he has with his former team, are buried deep inside, as he moves on to what may be the final chapter of his career.
I’m never bashing Pat Riley. I’m never bashing the Miami Heat organization. I’m never saying nothing negative about them out of my mouth. Does the way that process goes down make you angry? Yes. Do you feel a certain way about stuff? Yes. Like I said, the business side just comes into play sometimes, and it’s an ugly, ugly side. But at the end of the day, there’s nothing but love from me.