Wade meet-and-greet goes awry
The Miami Heat tried to follow Cleveland's lead and create a "fan tunnel" at the airport when Dwyane Wade arrived back in town Monday morning.
A few dozen fans, reporters and a couple of team executives showed up. The problem was fans were told to go to a private jet terminal, while Wade arrived at a commercial gate and missed the welcoming party.
"We had conflicting information on the airline," Heat executive vice president Michael McCullough said, according to the South Florida Sun Sentinel.
The Heat tried to spread the word late Sunday night through a couple of Twitter messages.
Wade met twice with the Bulls last week, raising the anxiety level in Miami that its star player could sign with his hometown team as a free agent.
Wade will be hosting a three-day basketball camp for kids ages 7-18 in Fort Lauderdale starting Tuesday. Maybe this is a chance for Bulls fans to fly down to Florida, enroll their kids in the camp, then dress them in specially-made Wade Bulls jerseys.
Privileges in question: A source within the Bulls denied that special privileges for friends and business partners were ever discussed during Saturday's meeting with LeBron James, which was mentioned in Monday's Daily Herald.
The denial came after one line from the story was taken out of context, then passed around cyberspace and Twitter accounts.
The point in the original story was the Cavaliers have been accused of giving James extra leeway because they feared losing him as a free agent. One of his business partners was hired as a team employee and there were reports that James' friends were allowed on team charter flights early in his career.
The Bulls have been consistent since the Michael Jordan era in refusing to allow outsiders on the team plane or inside the locker room. James has no concerns with that policy, according to a league insider.
Summer roster set: The Bulls released their summer league roster Monday. With just five players under contract for next season, they probably had an easy time filling spots.
Second-year forward James Johnson is on the roster, along with three familiar faces from last season - Joe Alexander, Chris Richard and Derrick Byars. The Bulls also landed guard Morris Almond, a former first-round draft pick of Utah; along with undrafted rookies Samardo Samuels of Louisville, Matt Bouldin of Gonzaga and A.J. Ogilvy from Vanderbilt.
Rounding out the summer squad are guards John Lucas III, Jerel McNeal and Jack McClinton, with forward Trent Plaisted.