Nba 2016-2017 Season! Let's Get It On!

[micro_player]

sana matuloy yang sa C's

[Guiness]

NBA teams appear to be preparing for a lockout. Here’s what they want changed.

By Tim Bontemps July 15 at 10:28 AM

LAS VEGAS – The NBA has arguably never been stronger than it is today. Ahead of a season that will feature a bevy of marketable stars, a budding rivalry between the Cleveland Cavaliers of LeBron James and Kyrie Irving and the Golden State Warriors of Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant, skyrocketing franchise valuations and the influx of massive amounts of cash thanks to a new television deal, it is undeniably a golden era for the league.

 

So why is it, as the NBA’s annual convention otherwise known as the Las Vegas Summer League continues this week, that the dominant theme among the league’s movers and shakers is the strong possibility of a work stoppage next summer? Ironically, many of the same reasons for the league’s current vibrancy and health could lead it to the brink of labor strife next July.

 

More Money, More Problems

The first point of contention is an age-old issue whenever there’s a pile of money to divide: both sides want a bigger share.

 

In the last lockout in 2011, the NBA significantly cut into the National Basketball Players Association’s share. The league managed to reduce the players’ share of basketball related income (otherwise known as BRI) from 57 percent before the work stoppage to a band between 49 and 51 percent under the new CBA.

That doesn’t mean the league is satisfied, though.

 

“They want one thing,” said one player agent, referring to the owners. “They want a higher percentage than 50 percent [of BRI]. That’s it.”

 

But while the owners will want a bigger cut, so will the players. Since Michele Roberts became the executive director of the NBPA, she’s made it clear she’s going to try and give the union more of a backbone than she believed the organization exhibited in the past. This will be her first chance to prove it.

 

Franchise tags

The idea that someone of Durant’s caliber was able to join Golden State without the Warriors having to tear up their roster is something that’s left many teams around the league unhappy. Silver admitted as much when he said of this week’s Board of Governors meetings, “Of course we discussed the activities from the last two weeks for free agency. I would say we had a robust discussion in the room of various views of player movement that we’ve seen.”

 

Silver also made a point to circle back to one theme multiple times during his press conference Tuesday evening: that the NBA needs to try to ensure all teams have a chance to be competitive, provided they are managed well.

“I do think to maintain those principles that I discussed in terms of creating a league in which every team has the opportunity to compete, I think we do need to re-examine some of the elements of our system so that I’m not here next year or the year after again talking about anomalies,” Silver said. “There are certain things, corrections we believe we can make in the system.

“Of course we’re not going to negotiate here with the union; it requires two parties to make those changes. I think we’ve had very productive discussions with the union so far, and we will continue to do so.”

 

One of those elements to be re-examined will likely be the proposal of an NFL-style franchise tag, an idea tossed out by several executives in Las Vegas this week. If the Thunder had the option to retain Durant with such a designation, he would have been prevented from leaving via free agency. Similarly, if it existed now, the Thunder would have the option to use it on Russell Westbrook after next season. Instead the Thunder face a current situation in which Westbrook is presumed likely to be traded by General Manager Sam Presti to ensure Oklahoma City doesn’t lose a second star for no return.

 

Player opposition figures to be strong against a franchise tag. From their perspective, Durant spent nine seasons playing in Oklahoma City and had earned the right to test the open market. The topic could be one of the most contentious during any collective bargaining.

 

No more maximum salaries

The sheer dollar amounts of the summer’s free agent contracts to middling players has been a popular talking point in Las Vegas, but some of that amazement at the big-dollar figures comes out of context. If contracts were measured as a percentage of the salary cap, rather than a total dollar amount, these contracts wouldn’t look much different than past pacts, given the $24 million jump in this year’s salary cap ceiling.

 

But that cap jump and the artificial ceiling for max contracts meant plenty of players were given hefty contracts this summer simply because they could peg their demands to a max salary, and know multiple teams would give it to them. The most obvious example is Harrison Barnes, who went from being the fourth or fifth option with the Warriors to getting over $90 million guaranteed over the next four years on a max deal from the Dallas Mavericks.

 

“If I was the owners, why wouldn’t I want to stop this?” one talent evaluator asked.

One easy way to both prevent these kinds of contracts and to eliminate the ability for teams like the Warriors to have several stars team up would be to eliminate max contracts. If players like Curry and Durant could each command, say, $50 or $60 million per year instead of the $26.5 million and change Durant will earn next season on his maximum allowed salary, it would be difficult – if not impossible – for them to play together without agreeing to take gigantic pay cuts.

Unlike many of the topics on this list, however, this one could gain some traction. Roberts has previously talked about the possibility of eliminating them, and with the union’s executive committee now full of names like Chris Paul, LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony — who all would likely command more than a maximum dollar amount in an open market — perhaps it’s something they would be interested in pursuing.

 

The problem, though, is that such a decision would significantly diminish the NBA’s middle class. Those artificial maximum limits for players like Curry, Durant and James mean players like Barnes, for example, benefit by hauling in the dollars the league’s stars aren’t allowed to collect for themselves.

 

Bring on the hard cap

The idea of a hard salary cap has been something the NBA has always wanted. There’s no better way to prevent teams like the Warriors from accumulating a disproportionate amount of talent than a fixed spending limit teams are forbidden to exceed.

But just as it’s something the NBA has always wanted, it’s something the players union has always fought. The idea surfaced during the last lockout and it was a non-starter for the union. Eventually the NBA relented, and pulled it off the table.

When Adam Silver said Tuesday that, “I think we can make the system even better,” this is one of the things he undoubtedly had in mind. It’s also something the players will fiercely resist.

 

With so many issues for the two sides to hammer out over the next 12 months, and with NBA teams apparently determined to find ways to prevent moves like Durant joining the Warriors, settling on a new CBA will not be an easy task. And the incredible amount of money up for grabs won’t make the task of dividing it any easier.

 

[Guiness]

Pat Riley has an interesting idea about how to fix the NBA's 'superteam' problem

In the aftermath of Kevin Durant's decision to take his talents to the 73-win Golden State Warriors, the basketball world has obsessed over and decried the latest NBA trend of "superteams."

 

With the Warriors taking the idea of superstars teaming up to a new level, many have argued how these superteams make the league anticompetitive, how they are a product of max contracts undervaluing the league's best players, and above all else, how they need to go away.

On Saturday, Miami Heat President Pat Riley (who knows a thing or two about superteams) offered his solution to this problem: create an NBA franchise tag, which would allow each team to sign one player for as much money as they wanted, no salary-cap rules applied.

 

Here's Riley:

"I believe that there should be a franchise tag on one of your guys. My opinion of a franchise tag — this is why they don't allow me to talk and give opinions in the collective bargaining agreement — is that a franchise player to me would be a player in which you can pay him as much money as you want.

"It doesn't go against the cap. Everybody gets one player, that Kevin [Durant] you get 50 [million], LeBron you get 100 [million]. Somewhere along the way there are players in this league that are worth that kind of money. Or there's a limit on that. But if you franchise somebody then you have the ability to protect [against your star player leaving for a super team.]"

 

There's some truth to the notion that Durant's decision to team up with Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, and Draymond Green has made the league less all-around competitive: We're in the heart of the NBA offseason and, barring some unforeseeable, blockbuster trade, a Finals rematch between Cleveland and Golden State already feels like a foregone conclusion.

 

But so long as elite NBA players are willing to take pay cuts in order to play with other elite players (which is, in part, a product of rings and legacy remaining national obsessions), superteams will forever continue to exist, at least in some capacity.

 

Still, the question of altering the collective bargaining agreement in some way to structurally defend against the creation of superteams remains an intriguing one.

Riley's idea is certainly thought-provoking, though its logic is based on an assumption that a prestigious NBA free agent would always stay with his current team because that team has no limit in how much money it could spend on him.

 

That's maybe true for some players, but again, many players (understandably) care more about winning championships than anything else. And for those dying for a ring, why opt in to a $50 million franchise tag if that team is never going to actually compete for a title? Instead, you could sign a max contract (about $27 million per year) under the salary cap with a better team — a team that would have likely offered its own franchise tag to another superstar. And wouldn't that, then, just be another superteam?

 

Another possible flaw in Riley's concept is that there are very few sure things in sports. As The Big Lead notes, shelling out $50 million or $100 million is almost always a risk. Would owners really want to spend that kind of money when a freak injury could end a career?

If nothing else, Riley's solution is interesting in a subject that will continue to gain traction as the season gets underway — because for now, superteams aren't going anywhere.

[DaisukiWie]

Most exciting summer league in ages!

[bukkaka]

this season's draft class are not that super explosive, pero makikita mo sa kanila yung versatility at athleticism

[leaderofthebibes]

Teams to watch for, could go deep into the playoffs or pwede ring pulpol, pero nevertheless talent and coach wise these teams are really good


Boston Celtics (Brad Stevens FTW!!! great coach, Plus they got a legit al horford as center)
Minnesota Timberwolves( Wiggins, Lavine, Dunn, Towns, Shabazz plus a great coach in Tim. Trade rubio for a good PF and surely this team can beat anyone.)
Phoenix Suns( DEVIN BOOKER!!!, plus knight, bledsoe and a great rookie in bender. Coaching wise, siguro kailangan pang experience pero we'll never know, kerr nga eh diba)
Atlanta Hawks(Hindi magiging pulpol dito si howard ako nagsasabi sainyo!! Magaling coach plus deep bench)
Bucks(Ohwell, longest team to, plus a champion coach in kidd)

Overrated Teams:
Knicks(Could go to the playoffs pero now too deep)
Bulls (though nandun si waaade, c'mon wade lang?! HAHA)

Lakers(WALTON!? REALLY!?)

[Mr.TwoTimerss]

team boston

 

[lonelyhobo]

I'm a KD fan but his decision to join the team they ALMOST beat is dumbfounding.

With that being said, I'm still going to follow him to the bay area.

[Guiness]

Why the NBA doesn't like superteams like the Warriors, even though they make a lot of money

By Tom Ziller on Jul 21, 2016, 10:28a

 

The Super Warriors might help the NBA draw more eyeballs, but their existence hurts 29 other teams' ability to win, and thus to make money.

 

There is substantial evidence to suggest that the NBA should like having one or more so-called superteams at any given time. Superteams tend to elevate superstars, like Magic and Bird in the '80s and Michael Jordan in the '90s. This is a superstar league, and higher global profiles for the very best players draws more attention to the NBA itself. Legion are the stories of international fans who watched '90s Bulls games at all hours of the night just to catch a glimpse of His Airness. (A number of these fans have become NBA players and speak fondly on those memories.)

Ratings spikes tend to follow the creation of superteams. Jordan's Bulls won six titles in eight years and had a 72-win season; the NBA's television ratings never reached a higher level than during that run. The 2010-11 Miami Heat brought with them a huge ratings bump, even though (unlike the Bulls) that team was widely reviled. People love a spectacle, and that's what superteams are. The Warriors maintained high ratings and sold out every road game last season while chasing the regular season wins record despite not becoming villainous until the playoffs. Adding Kevin Durant will only boost the interest level more.

The NBA, as a single-business entity that is focused on maximizing exposure, benefits from the creation of superteams. But the NBA really isn't a single-business entity. It's 30 smaller businesses working to each maximize their own revenue.

It's true that a rising tide lifts all boats, but it's also true that winning in the NBA is a zero-sum game. Winning has a huge effect on revenue for those individual teams. Studies have indicated that winning percentage has a strong positive correlation with attendance. Gate receipts are a huge piece of the revenue puzzle for individual teams, as are the knock-on effects from a higher gate: more merchandise sold, higher arena operations revenue for concessions and parking (some of which is shared or taken whole by the team), higher demand for other games through smaller supply of available tickets.

If a few teams are doing all of the winning, are they creating a higher tide that lifts all those less fortunate boats, or a tidal wave that wipes them out? That's the concern those teams have, and that's why NBA commissioner Adam Silver is down on Durant joining the Warriors.

As we tend to think of the NBA as a single, massive business concern, we tend to think of Silver as concerned primarily with growing the league's total footprint. But really, Silver answers to 30 bosses. It does him little good to grow NBA revenue as a whole if only a few teams are truly benefiting. The Warriors, thanks to the wealth of their ticket-buying fandom and their incredible success, were drawing eight-figure gate receipts for single playoff games. Some of that is shared with the broader league. Half ends up in players' hands. The rest stays with the Golden State Warriors, helping to fuel their next talent coup (Durant), a coup that hurts the revenue potential of another team (the Oklahoma City Thunder) directly and other teams indirectly.

Consider it this way. There are 1,230 wins available in an NBA season. With perfect parity, every team would go 41-41. Now introduce just one outlier. Give one team -- say, the Warriors -- 73 wins. With perfect parity for the rest of the teams, they'd go 40-42, a little bit worse. Give one team 73 wins and introduce two more outlier teams that win 65 apiece. The rest of the league is now down to 38 wins apiece. Teams that win 38 games don't really capture the imagination like teams that win 40-something games.

This is a facile example, as the NBA has nothing close to perfect parity (in fact, quite the opposite). The league's standings are messy in permanence. But the larger point stands: when a high-quality team gets better on the court, that starves the other 29 teams of a) a talent asset that would help each of them get better, and potential wins, which are necessary in most cases to maximize local revenue.

Adam Silver's dream isn't really about perfect parity. It's about 30 fandoms that are excited enough about their teams to open their collective wallets and pay to see those teams 41 times a year.

The immense financial success of the Warriors is good for Adam Silver, and important. But it's also important that the Dallas Mavericks succeed financially, that the L.A. Clippers and Washington Wizards and New York Knicks and Portland Trail Blazers and Sacramento Kings and Charlotte Hornets succeed financially. A few teams hogging all of the success for themselves will eventually starve the rest, and when you are starved, you get desperate. That's not what Silver wants or needs. He wants and needs to spread that cake around.

The most intuitive way to spread it around is through robust revenue sharing. The league has gotten better (much better) on that account since the 2011 lockout, but those high-revenue teams come to that solution only begrudgingly.

So Silver and his crew turn toward ways to level the playing court in opportunity to succeed financially. Ensuring all teams have equal opportunity to win basketball games is the clear route to that end. Superteams are roadblocks on the path.

That's why Adam Silver wants to prevent them, no matter how attractive they are to the wider viewing audience.

 

[Guiness]

Kevin Durant turns jeers to cheers, leads Team USA to lopsided exhibition victory

 

LOS ANGELES — In his first game at an NBA arena since he made the decision to leave the Oklahoma City Thunder for the Golden State Warriors, Kevin Durant was met with a cascade of boos Sunday after his name was announced in pre-game introductions for Team USA’s exhibition against China.

 

The type of reaction, though likely amplified by the number of Los Angeles Clipper fans among the sold-out Staples Center crowd, is something Durant will have to get used to as he takes on the role of NBA villain with his new super-team.

 

Though fans at Sunday’s contest jeered at the sound of Durant’s name, they couldn’t help but cheer his game as he led the Americans to a lopsided 106-57 victory.

 

For the second consecutive game, Durant was the brightest star for Team USA. He followed up his 23-point performance against Argentina with a game-high 19 points Sunday, 12 of which came from beyond the arc.

Two of Durant’s five assists against an overmatched Chinese side came on kick-outs that turned into Klay Thompson three-pointers, putting a smile on the faces of Warriors fans. The two Golden State teammates helped Team USA break out of an early shooting slump and combined for 36 points Sunday night.

“[Durant and Thompson] are two of the best shooters in the world,” Team USA coach Mike Krzyzewski said. “Our guys want them to get shots. It’s neat when they do shoot that the whole bench wants that to happen. Hopefully they keep hitting them.”

Krzyzewski won’t be alone in his wishes for more Durant and Thomspon highlights at Team USA’s next contest, which will take place Tuesday at Golden State’s Oracle Arena.

 

There, Durant can expect a much warmer welcome as takes to his new home court for the first time.

“I’m excited going to Oakland as a member of the Warriors,” Durant said after Sunday’s game. “We’ll see. I don’t know to expect. I’m just going to go out there and be my normal self and do my normal routine and we’ll see what happens.

 

“I can’t wait. Every time I get to step on the court with these players, I feel better so I’m looking forward to it.”

After that, he’ll get more of a taste of what his new NBA journey will bring when he visits Chicago’s United Center and Houston’s Toyota Center before Team USA officially begins its quest for Olympic gold in Rio de Janeiro.

 

Earlier this week, Durant told The Vertical’s Michael Lee he flat-out doesn’t care about whether he’s liked or not.

“I want to be liked by people that I think love me. People I don’t know, I don’t care about,” Durant told The Vertical. “I want you to respect my game and what I bring to the floor, and if you don’t like what I do as a person, I don’t care. I want you to respect my game and if you don’t, that’s your problem.”

 

So far, it’s mission accomplished for the newest Warriors star.

 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o90PytkckwI

[##silentrage##]

Watch out for the Spurs, they may just spring a surprise.

[Guiness]

USA Basketball Showcase vs. China: Live score, TV channel, how to watch live stream online

What: Team USA vs. China

When: Tuesday, July 26 at 7 p.m. PT/10 p.m. ET

Where: Oracle Arena, Oakland, Calif.

TV coverage: NBA TV

How to watch online: Live stream available on facebook.com/usabasketball/

 

 

USA 107, China 57 – FINAL | BOX SCORE

DeMarcus Cousins finished with a game-high 21 points to go along with 11 rebounds. Carmelo Anthony scored 16 of his 20 points in the third quarter.

Klay Thompson had 15 points and a team-high five assists. Kevin Durant, playing in Oakland for the first time since signing with the Golden State Warriors as a free agent, finished with 13 points.

Shooting: USA (36-72) 50 percent, China (23-56) 41 percent

Rebounding: USA 48 (19 offensive), China 21 (4 offensive)

 

First half: USA 52, China 24

Kevin Durant leads all scorers with 13 points and DeMarcus Cousins has 10 points and five rebounds.

Shooting: USA 51.5 percent, China 29.2 percent

Rebounding: USA 24, China 9

Second-chance points: USA 12, China 0

[Guiness]

U.S. Olympic Men’s Basketball Team Downs China, 107-57

Led by DeMarcus Cousins’ team-high 21 points and 11 rebounds, the 2016 U.S. Olympic Men’s Basketball Team recorded a 107-57 victory over China Tuesday evening at the Oracle Arena in Oakland, California, improving its record to 3-0 on its pre-Olympic Games USA Basketball Showcase tour.

 

 

The score was almost identical to the 106-57 result July 24 against the same Chinese side. Tuesday’s 50-point victory margin was the widest of the three exhibition games played by the U.S. thus far. China will be the first opponent for the Americans at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games on Aug. 6 when group play begins.

 

 

Kevin Durant scored the first 10 points for the U.S. in his debut on his new home court after signing on July 7 with the Golden State Warriors, finishing the game with 13 points. He jump-started the Americans to a 31-15 advantage by the end of the first quarter, a lead that grew to 52-24 by halftime.

 

The U.S. dominated the offensive end of the floor, shooting 50 percent, including 39 percent from three-point range. Second-chance points contributed significantly to the win, as the Americans gathered 19 offensive rebounds and converted them into 21 points. Meanwhile, a sticky U.S. defense permitted China only 41-percent success shooting from the field.

 

 

Cousins and Durant received scoring support from Carmelo Anthony, who scored 20 points, while Klay Thompson added 15. The U.S. outrebounded China 48-21. The only weak point for the Americans was 15 turnovers, 11 as a result of steals by the Chinese.

 

 

Team USA continues its pre-Rio exhibition schedule on Friday, July 29, against Venezuela at the United Center in Chicago, then faces Nigeria at Houston’s Toyota Center before departing for Rio.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjLdSIrjXu0

Edited July 28, 2016 by hahnz

[Guiness]

One NBA team is already preparing for an ugly Stephen Curry-Kevin Durant divorce

By Matt Bonesteel July 28 at 10:59 AM

Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant have played exactly zero minutes together as Golden State Warriors teammates, so we have no real idea how the two will work together. The rest of the NBA, meanwhile, is hoping that things go south, and one of them is actively planning on it. Here’s Bleacher Report’s Ric Bucher with a quick item about it.

 

In case you can’t or won’t listen, here’s what Bucher said:

“There are 29 teams hoping the chemistry between Kevin Durant and Steph Curry is poisonous, but there is one team that is planning for it. I’ve been told by one of the league’s title contenders that they hope to poach Curry. They see KD taking the last-minute shots that were once Curry’s domain. Their pitch will be, ‘Come to us, and you can be the man once more.’ “

 

It’s probably a fool’s errand to guess the name of the “title contender” here, but we can probably narrow it down to a handful of teams: The Cavaliers, Clippers and Spurs, plus maybe the Raptors or Thunder, and if you get expansive with your definition you could probably throw in the league’s 48-34 foursome (Celtics, Heat, Hawks and Hornets, who all finished with the same regular season record). After that, it’s a real stretch (as is the thought of Curry ever playing in Toronto).

 

ANYWAY, Curry is under contract through the 2016-17 season, when he’ll absurdly be the Warriors’ fifth-highest-paid player at $12.1 million, the byproduct of the four-year, $44 million deal he signed in late 2012, when he was still “Stephen Curry — DNP (ankle)” and not “Stephen Curry — two-time defending MVP.” That glitch will be rectified after next season when Curry becomes an unrestricted free agent and signs the maxest of max deals. And there’s one team out there, apparently, that is hoping for a messy divorce.

Edited July 29, 2016 by hahnz

[Guiness]

Wade excited to join hometown Bulls

POSTED: Jul 29, 2016 6:39 PM ET

By Jay Cohen

Associated Press

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xzZ1cmA2h90

 

CHICAGO (AP) — When Dwyane Wade was a free agent in 2010, he got a Chicago Bulls jersey when he met with his hometown team. He took it home, put it on and took a picture. Then he deleted it.

 

He got another Bulls jersey Friday, and there were more pictures. Lots of pictures, and there was no need to erase anything this time around.

The long dance between Wade and the Bulls took the next step when he was officially introduced as a member of his favorite team growing up in the Windy City. The 12-time All-Star had two workouts with the Bulls before he was drafted by Miami in 2003, and then had two more meetings with the team before deciding to stay with the Heat six years ago.

 

"My dream of becoming an NBA player started here, started here in my hometown," Wade said. "I know it took a long time to get here, but I am here and I'm excited to be here."

 

Wade announced he was leaving Miami for Chicago on July 6, and the Bulls confirmed the deal two weeks ago. But his introductory press conference was delayed by a trip to China for Wade and his wife, actress Gabrielle Union.

Judging by the smile on the face of general manager Gar Forman, it was worth the wait for the Bulls.

 

"Knowing him and studying him over the years, his makeup and character, his work ethic and his commitment to winning is something that I think is really going to serve our team well," Forman said. "You look at our team and we basically got a young team. We've got 10 players now with three years or less experience, and to have Dwyane come in and kind of show these guys the way, I don't think you can put a value on something like that."

We're not going to come out there and try to be Stephen Curry. That's not our game.

– Dwyane Wade

 

Wade's two-year contract worth about $47 million is part of a delicate balancing act for Forman and the Bulls, trying to get younger and more athletic while staying in contention. After finishing 42-40 and missing the playoffs for the first time since 2008, Derrick Rose, another local product, was traded to the New York Knicks, and All-Star center Pau Gasol left for a free-agent deal with San Antonio.

 

But the Bulls convinced Rajon Rondo and Wade to come to Chicago, adding two more dynamic guards to play with Jimmy Butler. While Rondo and Wade are on the wrong side of 30 and have never been strong 3-point shooters in a league with increasing emphasis on the outside shot, everyone with the Bulls think they will be able to work it out.

 

"We have our own strengths, and with those strengths is what we're going to bring to this game," Wade said. "We're not going to come out there and try to be Stephen Curry. That's not our game."

 

Butler watched from the back as Wade held his press conference, and Wade playfully ribbed him about his shirt exposing his muscular arms. While Butler's reputation took a hit following Chicago's poor finish last season, Wade said Butler called him during free agency and the deal would not have happened without his recruitment.

 

"We're not going to go through this all year. It's Jimmy Butler's team," Wade said. "Myself and Rondo are here to bring what we bring as athletes to this team and to this city."

 

Scoring has never been a problem for the 34-year-old Wade, who leaves Miami as the franchise's career leader with 20,221 points. The 6-foot-4 guard averaged 19 points and 4.6 assists in 74 games last season, his highest total since he appeared in 76 games in the 2010-11 campaign.

 

After the Bulls missed out on him in the draft, Wade turned into a beloved figure in South Florida, helping the Heat win NBA titles in 2006, 2012 and 2013. He had repeatedly returned to the only NBA franchise he had ever known, but he said the direction and focus for each side was a little different this year than in the past.

 

"I had a contract offer in Miami that I could have took. I decided not to take it," Wade said. "It was my decision to be selfish and to live out a dream of mine. I brought a lot of excitement to Miami and it's a home to me. It will always be. I want to bring a little bit here to Chicago while I have a little bit left."

Edited July 30, 2016 by hahnz