LeBron James is only looking forward.
The three-time NBA champion was asked about life with Dwyane Wade and their four-year run in Miami, and was way more about their friendship than their on-the-court accomplishments.
“I don’t think I’m going to look back at the four-year run,’’ James told Cleveland reporters. “Anytime I see [Wade], I don’t even think about the time on the court. I think about the friendship and the camaraderie that we built over these last 14 years. We’ve got so many memories off the floor, and obviously, you guys know about what happened on the court. Those things are always going to be there. We know what we accomplished. We wanted to accomplish even more, but it’s a new day, it’s a new time, and I don’t think I’m going to look back on [Miami] too much.’’
Wade, however, has a much different approach. Then again, Wade admittedly had to sacrifice a lot more on the court than James did.
“I definitely changed my game more,’’ Wade said of playing with James. “It’s not even a conversation. It’s not even a conversation to have. I definitely changed mine more.
“I mean we all knew the sacrifice that had to be made. When you sit down and you talk about playing together, you think you know. You try and cover things in that moment. But then once you start playing together, you realize it’s harder than what you thought. But we all knew that we had to sacrifice. Chris Bosh too. He’s somebody that they don’t talk about. He had to sacrifice a lot too. But at the end of the day we sacrificed points, maybe article hits, but what we gained was championships and friendships and a brotherhood that lasts a lifetime, so I’m sure if we could do it all over again we’d do it exactly the same way.’’
And while Wade is the older of the two, he said that what he learned from playing with James was invaluable.
“You cannot be around someone who is great and not learn something from him,’’ Wade said. “If you don’t, something is wrong with you. The one thing I always said about LeBron is I thought he was an unbelievable teammate. I thought as a leader and someone who gets as much attention as he gets, he does an unbelievable job of making his teammates feel like they’re him in a sense. They all walk with that same swagger and confidence. He takes them along the ride with him.’’
That’s the leadership that Wade has been trying to display with his new Bulls teammates. Well, at least through Friday, as there will be no ride along for Wade on Saturday.
With the Bulls playing in Dallas and it being the second of four games in five nights, coach Fred Hoiberg and Wade made the decision to leave the 34-year-old behind in Chicago.
Sunday will be an off-day, before they play Portland on Monday and head to Detroit on Tuesday. As of now, Wade was expected to start the games against the Trail Blazers and Pistons.
Moving closer
Doug McDermott is still in the concussion protocol, but according to Hoiberg, the reserve could be cleared to start taking contact in the next few days.
McDermott has now missed eight games with a second concussion, and could start practicing with the D-League team to get back in condition if he’s cleared by Monday.
