Chicago Bulls' Wade, Rondo insist rivalry still dormant
Dwyane Wade and Jimmy Butler did not start Friday's game against Miami as punishment for their comments critical of teammates following the loss to Atlanta.
Rajon Rondo was already removed from the starting lineup in late December, so it's not clear if he would face any repercussion from his Instagram post, which criticized team leadership, mainly Butler and Wade.
At Friday's shootaround, Wade insisted he took no offense at Rondo's message, which talked about how Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce used to lead when he played for Boston. Butler claimed he hadn't read Rondo's post.
"I could take that as a personal attack, but what's that going to do for me?" Wade asked. "Come in and fight Rajon because he said his vets practiced every day? I'm 35. I'm not practicing every day. That's very clear. Everyone has their own things. My vets did different things too. They were very successful with what they did in Boston."
Wade skips practice sometimes and has missed four games this season due to planned rest, a common practice in the NBA these days. Talk about vets doing things differently, when Miami won the NBA title in 2006, Wade's vet, Shaquille O'Neal, missed 23 games.
"That's (Rondo's) way of leading. Just like my way of leading is my way of leading when I come out here and I smile and say all these positive things," Wade said. "And when I come in and say I'm (ticked) off, that's my way of leading at that time. It's not always what people want to hear or a popular thing."
There are YouTube videos dedicated to the run-ins between Wade and Rondo during the Miami-Boston rivalry years. On Friday, Rondo insisted things were fine.
"It's not that we don't like each other," Rondo said. "Some things came out that shouldn't have. ... When you express yourself and get everything out, it makes relationships better. When you communicate, you understand each other."
Wade says no regrets:
Dwyane Wade spent his first 13 NBA seasons in Miami. Before facing his old team Friday, he insisted there are no regrets about his decision to leave the Heat and return to his hometown of Chicago.
"I wouldn't change my decision at all this summer to come here," he said. "Since I've came here, I've enjoyed it. I've been happy.
"It's the process of losing ballgames is never fun. For no one, no matter where you live. You can be in the sun, you can be in the cold, it's never fun losing ballgames at home. I'm not having fun being an average team from that standpoint. But I am enjoying the journey, enjoying this process. Like I said, this is another chapter to the book."
Heat coach sees good in Bulls:
Miami coach Erik Spoelstra had his own perspective on the Bulls' drama.
"I have no thoughts about that," he said Friday, according to the South Florida Sun Sentinel. "Welcome to the NBA. That's around every team. What I see is a team that's in the eight spot right now. They have a very talented team. They have two players generating over 60 percent of their offense, one of them we know very well. That guy's a killer."