Wade to Bulls? Could be another disappointing end

March 10, 2009
BY NEIL HAYES Staff Reporter

It’s a delicious prospect, especially after a night like last night, when Dwyane Wade elevated his team to a pulsating double-overtime victory over his hometown five with an epic performance that will forever be burned in the memories of all who witnessed it.

Next year, Wade will be a free agent. Thanks in part to their deadline deals, the Bulls have available cap space. Wade grew up in Robbins dreaming of being Michael Jordan. Here’s his chance. If he signed with the Bulls it could be 1991 all over again. Imagine it.

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Derrick Rose and Wade, two local boys, the modern day Jordan and Pippen, leading the Bulls back to glory.

It not only seems plausible but logical until you realize it almost never happens. Sadly for the Bulls, superstar free-agents rarely leave their teams. Rules have been established to discourage it. As much as we want it to happen it rarely does, as much as we like to think it’s not all about the money it almost always is.

Wade’s performance in Monday night’s 130-127 double-overtime victory over the Bulls was one for the ages. His desperation heave to end the first half miraculously fell. He buried a dramatic 3-pointer to tie the game in regulation. He stole the ball from John Salmons with three seconds left and made a running 3 to win the game and send the Miami crowd into a frenzy. He finished with 48 points and 12 assists in the latest of a string of individual performances that proves he is at least the equal of two other members of the highly anticipated 2010 free-agent class, Kobe Bryant and LeBron James.

Wade is having what may be the most productive season of his career despite off-the-court turmoil that threatens to harm his once-unblemished reputation. He is in the midst of a high-profile divorce that includes accusations that he abandoned his children. His restaurant chain failed. A disgruntled former business partner made unsubstantiated claims about Wade using recreational drugs.

None of these allegations will prevent the Heat from doing everything possible to make him sign long-term. Heat President Pat Riley said his "horror nightmare" involves losing Wade to free agency, which seems unlikely because the NBA’s collective bargaining agreement makes it possible for Miami to offer Wade $20 million more than any other team.

I can understand taking a few dollars less to play for your hometown team. You could probably make it up in endorsements. But $20 million? Guaranteed?

Teams are clearing cap space and lining up for LeBron and a free-agent class that includes Chris Bosh and perhaps even Amare Stoudemire even if history tells us that franchise players rarely leave for other teams. Shaquille O’Neal turned the NBA on its ear when he left Orlando for Los Angeles 13 years ago. Since then, according to the New York Times, only three in-their-prime superstar free agents — Grant Hill, Tracy McGrady and Steve Nash — have done what Bulls fans hope Wade will do.

There’s still a chance that Wade will turn his back on $20 million to come home and star in the arena where his hero once ruled supreme, but it would be a rare exception to the rule. Playing for the Bulls was a boy’s dream. Financial security is a man’s goal.

There goes Wade again, getting Bulls fans hopes up before crushing them beyond belief, as he did in Monday night’s game, when he displayed the same will to win that once defined Jordan. It was the second time he has done it this season. If the Bulls aren’t careful he could do it again, however unintentionally, on a much grander scale.