Mindful Of Minutes Workload, Bulls' Dwyane Wade Still Willing To 'Do Whatever For My Team'
By Cody Westerlund--
(CBS) A couple years back, after LeBron James had left Miami to return home to Cleveland, Heat coach Erik Spoelstra had a conversation with incumbent star Dwyane Wade regarding his workload. Wade was 32 at the time and suddenly staring again at a large burden to carry -- physically and emotionally -- with the game's best player gone. Spoelstra had an idea for how to use Wade.
Initially, Wade was having none of it.
"His plan for me was that he wanted me to play 30 minutes a game in the regular season," Wade said. "And when he told me that (then), I wasn't on board."
Wade would average 31.8 minutes during a 2014-'15 season in which he played in 62 of 82 regular-season games and dealt with hamstring, knee and hip injuries. The 20 missed games were more than Wade cared for, even as he realized he was entering a new phase of his career.
In 2015-'16, Wade averaged 30.5 minutes per game, the fewest of his career. He also played in 74 games, his most since 2010-'11, the first year of the Big Three era in Miami.
You can debate the merits of how effective those 1.3 fewer minutes year-over-year really were, but it symbolizes this: Wade has been more receptive to dialing it back.
"I work very hard man," Wade said. "I just need to take care of my body, especially as I get older. Now I'm starting to understand my body. Last year worked, but that was last year."
The next chapter of Wade's career has led him to Chicago, a place where minutes loads have long been a headline story and hot-button topic. Some believe former coach Tom Thibodeau ran the likes of Luol Deng, Joakim Noah and Derrick Rose into the ground with a heavy workload, and that subplot was mentioned by Bulls management after it unceremoniously fired Thibodeau in May 2015.
Wade hasn't yet had deep conversation with coach Fred Hoiberg regarding his usage, saying last Friday at his introductory press conference that it's still "so early." It will certainly be a season-long storyline, and while nothing is finalized, the Bulls figure to use the 34-year-old Wade in much the same manner the Heat did last season -- around 30 minutes a night.
"There's going to be new challenges this year," Wade said. "I always have the mentality that I'll do whatever for my team that I need to do. Like I said, I'm not trying to play 40 minutes."
Aiding this matter is that Chicago used its first-round pick in June on guard Denzel Valentine, who projects to back up Wade. The Bulls have praised Valentine's court vision, feel for the game and playmaking ability, so they'll want to give him opportunities. The more Valentine can contribute, the more rest Wade can grab.
On top of that, the Bulls envision Wade contributing as a leader as well as a player.
"Getting someone like Dwyane and some of the intangibles is huge for this team, and huge for this organization, and we're excited about it," general manager Gar Forman said. "We're excited about a lot of the guys that we've added. We're excited about our young guys and the progress that they're making."
After averaging 19.0 points on just shy of 46 percent shooting in the regular season last year, Wade logged 33.8 minutes in 14 postseason games, scoring 21.4 points on 47 percent shooting and coming up big in key moments on several occasions.
It's his goal to do the same for the Bulls.
"Whatever minutes that I play, just know that they're going to be productive for the most part," Wade said. "That's all I focus on.
"As a player, you always want to be out there. There were times last year when I wanted to be on the floor, but coach handled the rotation. It's my job to go out there, do my job, the minutes I'm on the floor. In playoff games, I played more minutes and had more production, but there was a smaller dosage of it. The NBA season is so long, you want to make sure that I was healthy enough throughout the whole year. I did pretty good."
Cody Westerlund is a sports editor for CBSChicago.com and covers the Bulls. He's also the co-host of the @LockedOnBulls podcast, which you can subscribe to on iTunes and Stitcher. Follow him on Twitter @CodyWesterlund.
