Hall of Fame Former Bull Dwyane Wade Takes Blame for Failed Jimmy Butler Era in Chicago

Current All-NBA Miami Heat small forward Jimmy Butler’s Chicago Bulls origins may feel like a lifetime ago, but for a certain generation of Windy City fans, his run with the team represents a tragic what-if in the storied club’s history.

Drafted with the No. 30 pick out of Marquette in 2011, Butler joined an exciting young Bulls club fresh off an Eastern Conference Finals berth. During the 2010-11 season, Chicago had gone 62-20, claiming the top seed in the conference.

Head coach Tom Thibodeau was honored as Coach of the Year, All-NBA First Team point guard Derrick was the youngest MVP in league history, and center Joakim Noah was named to an All-Defensive Second Team.

That 2010-11 Bulls team was felled in the Conference Finals by their perennial nemeses during that era, the Miami Heat. Chicago had a unique enmity with Miami, having whiffed on recruiting All-Stars Dwyane Wade (a Chicago native), LeBron James, or Chris Bosh in free agency the previous summer.

When Wade, James, and Bosh decided to head to South Beach instead, Bulls general manager Gar Forman and team president John Paxson pivoted, adding Utah Jazz All-Star Carlos Boozer in a sign-and-trade. The duo also brought in the league’s reigning most efficient 3-point shooter Kyle Korver and journeyman shooting guards Keith Bogans and Ronnie Brewer, plus rugged defense-first center Kurt Thomas and human victory cigar forward Brian Scalabrine.

Butler was joining a proud club with an established hierarchy, led by Rose, Noah, small forward Luol Deng, Boozer, and sixth man Taj Gibson. The team brought in former three-time Detroit Pistons All-Star Rip Hamilton to replace Bogans as Rose’s backcourt partner.

Hamilton, however, couldn’t stay healthy, ultimately appearing in just 28 games. As a rookie, Butler played spot minutes, but he fully capitalized the next season, when Hamiton suited up for a scant 50 games.

By the time Hamilton returned to the team from an injury layoff in April, Butler had become fully entrenched as Chicago’s starting shooting guard. Hamilton retired that summer. The Butler era had begun in earnest, and Wade’s Heat were perpetually in their way.

Miami went to four straight Finals, winning in 2012 and 2013. When James jumped shipped for the Cleveland Cavaliers, that club became the team to beat in the East for Chicago. But even with Butler blossoming into an All-Star in 2014-15 and leading the Bulls to a 50-win season, the team could not get over the hump.

Finally, with Chris Bosh struggling through blood clots and Dwyane Wade in decline, the Miami superstar did the unthinkable in the summer of 2016: he joined his hometown team at last, six years after Chicago had first tried to lure him away from the Heat.

Wade joined Butler and another East rival, former four-time All-Star point guard Rajon Rondo, to create an awkward leadership group that Rondo dubbed “the Three Alphas.” That trio frequently clashed — with each other, with then-head coach Fred Hoiberg, and with Chicago’s underwhelming young players.

Chicago finished with a middling .500 record (41-41) and the East’s No. 8 seed. But the club — big, long, and seasoned — proved surprisingly tough in the playoffs, taking a shocking 2-0 lead over the No. 1-seeded Boston Celtics. Unfortunately, when Rondo broke his right thumb in Game 2, his backup Jerian Grant struggled to pick up the slack.

Speaking on the “7PM in Brooklyn with Carmelo Anthony & Kid Mero” podcast recently, Wade accepted blame for that era’s ultimate failure.

“I was enjoying it,” Wade said. “I was the problem then… I set a bad precedent, I apologize. Jimmy Butler was on that team, so he probably picked up some bad habits from me. I was old… I was a military baby for 14 years, I got one year to get out, stretch my arms, I was like, ‘I’m about to take advantage.'”

During his lone year in Chicago, the 6-foot-4 vet averaged 18.3 points on .434/.310/.794 shooting splits, 4.5 rebounds, 3.8 assists, 1.4 steals, and 0.7 blocks across his 60 healthy games (59 starts). After Chicago opted to pull the rip cord and trade Butler to the Minnesota Timberwolves that summer, Wade negotiated a buyout and signed with James’ Cavaliers, while Rondo was waived.

Wade himself eventually returned to Miami midway through 2017-18, wrapping up his Hall of Fame career there in 2019 as an energy-changing sixth man.

Following brief stints with the Timberwolves and Philadelphia 76ers, Butler found a hard-nosed home at last with Wade’s old team. The 6-foot-7 wing has seemingly cemented his Hall of Fame case, in leading Miami to three Eastern Conference Finals across four seasons, including a pair of Finals berths in 2020 and 2023.

The 35-year-old faces something of an uncertain future with the club going forward, however, as talks of an extension have apparently hit a wall.

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