WADE SET TO GET TO WORK
Veteran not focused on expectations, minutes as Bulls prepare to open camp
There’s a refreshing honesty to Bulls newcomer Dwyane Wade these days.
Maybe it comes with age, or maybe he has learned that expectations are for others to dwell on.
‘‘ There’s no expectations right now,’’ Wade said when he recently was asked about what he expected from the Bulls entering this season. ‘‘ That’s [ your] job to come up with what our record is going to be or what our shooting percentage is going to be. That’s not our job. My job, Jimmy [ Butler’s] job, [ Rajon] Rondo’s job is to come in here when we start training camp and get after it and start working and building the team we want to see on the floor.
‘‘ No one knows what their team is going to be. There are predictions out there of what we can be. I don’t know how you guys can predict that when you guys have never seen us play together before. We’ve never seen each other play together before, but we know we have some special talent. We know we have some young guys who can play, but we all have to get to work. And it’s going to be awhile before we even get a chance to see what that’s going to be.’’
That process will start on the first day of camp Monday at the Advocate Center.
The Bulls will unveil a roster with a new look. Gone are Derrick Rose, Joakim Noah and Pau Gasol. In are Wade, Rondo and Robin Lopez. Lopez is expected to improve the defensive issues in the paint that showed up far too often last season, and Rondo will allow coach Fred Hoiberg to open up his playbook rather than having to simplify it for Rose. But all eyes will be on Wade, 34, starting with a game plan on how many minutes he will play. ‘‘ I’ve had some conversations with [ Hoiberg], but it’s so early we can’t get into it,’’ Wade, who spent his first 13 seasons with the Miami Heat, said of how much he will practice and play. ‘‘ In Miami, coach Spo [ Erik Spoelstra] had a plan. His plan for me was that he wanted me to play 30 minutes a game in the regular season. And when he told me that the year before, I wasn’t on board. But then [ last season] he wound up doing it, and it was successful for me.’’
Wade played in 74 regular- season games last season, his most since he played in 76 in 2010- 11.
Then again, the Bulls have plenty of bodies ready to put in heavy minutes, if necessary.
‘‘ Jimmy’s going to play the bulk of the minutes anyway,’’ Wade said. ‘‘ I’ve just got to, when I get out there, do the job I need to do, whatever those minutes are. I work very hard, man. 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. There’s going to be new challenges this year.
‘‘ 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. I’ll leave it up to the
young Bull [ Butler].’’