The Chicago Bulls thought they would be better. By combining All-Star Jimmy Butler with veteran NBA champion Dwyane Wade, the Bulls expected to challenge for a top stop in the Eastern Conference. Instead, they find themselves struggling to play .500 ball. After Wednesday’s loss to the Atlanta Hawks, the Bulls are just 23-24 and barely clinging to the final playoff spot in the East.
Speaking of that loss to the Hawks, it probably should have been a win. The Bulls gave up a ridiculous 41 points in the fourth quarter and let Atlanta finish the game on a 19-4 run to win 119-114. Even more interesting is the fact that that Nikola Mirotic and Paul Zipser were taking big shots at the end of the game, instead of Wade or Butler. Afterwards, both Wade and Butler sounded off.
Jimmy Butler wants the Bulls to care more pic.twitter.com/FshLPDyjuC
— Cody Westerlund (@CodyWesterlund) January 26, 2017
Dwyane Wade says some Bulls need to look in mirror and see if they care enough. He's upset.
— Cody Westerlund (@CodyWesterlund) January 26, 2017
Wade says he thinks some of his teammates don't care enough about winning. "This is unacceptable."
— Chuck Garfien (@ChuckGarfien) January 26, 2017
Butler jumps on the pile: "We don't play hard enough. This is your job. I want to play with guys who care."
— K.C. Johnson (@KCJHoop) January 26, 2017
Wade: "This just can’t be acceptable if you want to do anything besides have an NBA jersey on and make some money. That’s all we’re doing."
— K.C. Johnson (@KCJHoop) January 26, 2017
Wade: "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. (cont.)
— K.C. Johnson (@KCJHoop) January 26, 2017
Wade: " I don’t know if we can keep going down the line and be able to say that."
— K.C. Johnson (@KCJHoop) January 26, 2017
Wade: "It has to change it has to hurt inside to lose games like this. This s*** should f****** hurt."
— Nick Friedell (@NickFriedell) January 26, 2017
Butler and Wade combined for 73 points on the night, but the Bulls desperately need help at point guard, where they have yet to come with a solution that really works. We’ll have to wait and see whether these rants help kickstart the team into playing at a higher level, or just make the already tense teammate relationships even worse.
Devon Taylor (@DevonTaylor113)
Devon has been writing about random things online since 2013. His favorite video game is Rocket League, his favorite TV show is The Sopranos, and he hated the last season of Game of Thrones. Follow him @DevonTaylor113.