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Dwyane Wade, the Bulls new shooting guard, is LIVE with Kelly Ripa

(and some Bulls details)

By your friendly BullsBlogger
Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports

I'll just lead with this. What a world.

The Contract

The Bulls were the landing spot last night for Dwyane Wade's fallout from the Miami Heat, a team he's been with for 13 seasons. That relationship had become fractured over the past couple seasons, especially after Wade took another paycut to facilitate a LeBron James re-signing that didn't happen. Then this past offseason he was reportedly frustrated both by the perception that he was an afterthought to Hassan Whiteside and a Kevin Durant pursuit, plus the actual money offered, a reported $40m over 2 seasons.

The Bulls contract for Wade is reportedly $47.5m over the same 2 seasons, with Wade owning the ability to opt out after this season and re-enter free agency. The Bulls have had a poor reputation around the league when it came to free agents, and some of that was rumored to be the doing of the influential Wade. I guess a balloon pre-retirement payment can change things.

The Trades

To clear the necessary cap space to sign Wade, the Bulls had to make two trades: sending Mike Dunleavy to the Cavaliers and Jose Calderon (just acquired in the Rose trade last month) to the Lakers. In both cases the receiving teams were able to 'absorb' the incoming salaries: Lakers into cap space and Cavs with a trade exception. They only needed to use a 2nd rounder in the Calderon deal, no first round picks were used. So that's good.

It's somewhat interesting that Dunleavy, a useful player when healthy, is being sent to the Bulls main rival in the East. But then you remember the Bulls aren't really competing for the East title, more like the East's 4th seed.

The Fallout

Of course they think this, they're simple types.

As stated above, this could help the perception that the Bulls should be a destination for free agents. But if the season goes off the rails and the coach is fired, they'll probably look like a mess again.

The Roster

Here's the current depth chart. It's freaking weird!

PG: Rondo / Grant / Hinrich

SG: Wade / Valentine / Snell / Dinwiddie

SF: Butler / McDermott / Zipser

PF: Mirotic / Gibson / Portis

C: Lopez / Felicio

Notes:

  1. I'm assuming Mirotic will get the start over Taj, because that's what Fred wanted to do all of last year, and theoretically they need some shooting in the lineup with the Rondo/Wade/Butler anti-spacing trio. This relegates Mirotic to a spot-up threat only, so that's a bit concerning when looking at his overall development.
  2. Dinwiddie and Zipser are not guaranteed contracts, so we'll see on that front. Technically neither is Felicio but you'd have to assume he's staying.
  3. Wade will be wearing his customary #3 for the Bulls, as McDermott has already let it be known he's fine giving it up. Such chemistry.
  4. The Bulls still have their room exception, a little under $3m, to acquire another free agent.
  5. Speaking of, you know Hinrich is coming back.