Wade calls Korver deal a late Christmas gift for Cavs
Maybe the Bulls should consider this a compliment.
After Cleveland lost to the Bulls for the second time this season, the Cavs made a deal to acquire Kyle Korver in a trade from Atlanta. Bulls fans know Korver well. He played here for two seasons and is one of the best 3-point shooters in NBA history.
Asked about the Korver news, Dwyane Wade could only shake his head.
"Oh man, the rich get richer," Wade said Friday at the Advocate Center.
Full details were still being worked out as of Friday afternoon, but it appeared another ex-Bull, Mike Dunleavy, would head to the Hawks. Korver confirmed to reporters the trade was happening after the Hawks played New Orleans on Thursday.
Wade vehemently disagreed with a questioner who compared the Cavs adding Korver to Miami landing guys like Ray Allen and Mike Miller when Wade and LeBron James played together.
"No one helped us out, first of all. That was free agency and they took less money," Wade said. "No one sent nobody to us. They wouldn't help us out. We had to do it on our own. We had to take less money, and things like that, which we did because we wanted to win. No one ever gave us a gift after Christmas."
Wade plan a secret:
Both Fred Hoiberg and Dwyane Wade confirmed they had worked out a plan to deal with Wade's participation back-to-back games this month. But neither side wanted to reveal which games, if any, Wade planned to miss.
"I gotta leave something for coach," Wade said. "I'll let coach tell y'all."
Hoiberg didn't say anything either, but did provide a health report after Friday's practice.
"Everybody was a go in practice today with the exception of Denzel (Valentine) who is making a lot of progress," Hoiberg said. "He feels really good but he will be out (Saturday vs. Toronto)."
Valentine sprained his left ankle on Monday against Charlotte. He could be seen Friday shooting around after practice and working on dribbling drills.
"He doesn't have much pain. The swelling has gone down significantly," Hoiberg said. "He hopefully continues to make progress and we'll get him back in the lineup soon."
Butler works late:
In the past two games, Jimmy Butler has been scorching in the fourth quarter. He scored 17 points in the fourth quarter against Charlotte and 14 at Cleveland.
In those two quarters, Butler hit 10 of 16 shots from the field and 10 of 11 free throws. On the season, he ranks seventh in the NBA in fourth quarter scoring at 7.2 points. Oklahoma City's Russell Westbrook is first at 9.8 points.
"We've done a better job spacing the floor around Jimmy to give him as much room as possible to get into the paint, make plays and get himself to the free-throw line," coach Fred Hoiberg said Friday. "The first three quarters the other night we had a lot of success with other guys of going inside and different things to get back into that game.
"Jimmy just took over the game in the fourth quarter making play after play. Just continue to find spots on the floor we can get Jimmy the ball and let him go to work. It's been a pretty good formula as of late."