Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Wade on Heat: Team will always be a part of me
MIAMI — The Heat not only entered the week two games behind the Bulls for the No. 7 playoff seed in the Eastern Conference, but also with the full attention of Chicago guard Dwyane Wade.
Because even as he looks to what’s next for the team he joined in July, he acknowledged on a podcast recorded with Yahoo’s The Vertical that he also remains caught up with the team with which he spent the first 13 seasons of his career.
“There’s times where in my mind, if I look at the schedule and if I see the Heat is playing someone, say, ‘Heat versus Denver,’ I’m like, ‘Dang, we got Denver?’ It’s in my mind. I mean, 13 years,” Wade told Vertical site founder Adrian Wojnarowski. “And it’s not even just me, it’s people around me. ‘Hey, man, you coming to the city?’ I’m like, ‘Uh, no, that’s probably the Heat. The Bulls are somewhere else.’ ”
Wade received a warm reception on Nov. 10 in his return to AmericanAirlines Arena, the Bulls’ lone visit of the season. The Bulls won the season series 2-1, which could come into play as a potential playoff tiebreaker.
“I look back at those 13 years and I just smile,” he said on the podcast. “It’s hard to reflect while you’re in it. But now that I’m out of those 13 years with the organization, I look back. I think people think that I want the Heat to do bad or people probably think that, ‘Oh, he still follows the Heat?’ Yes, I follow the Heat. I watch all their games.
“I’m checking up on them because at the end of the day, it’s always going to be a part of me. Their organization is always going to be my organization in some form and some way because of what I was able to accomplish there and where my career stands. I want nothing but success for them.”
Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said before Monday night’s game against the Orlando Magic at AmericanAirlines Arena that such enduring bonds transcend team affiliations.
“That’s the human part of it,” he said. “You can’t take that away from us, those are the memories that we’ll remember, the relationships that you build. That’s what makes it bigger than just a business, all those times and the memories.”
Wade was particularly candid about not being directly contacted during last summer’s free-agency negotiations. He said on the podcast he wasn’t sure if Riley’s approach wasn’t a calculated measure to create the parting, something that resonated beyond overtures from owner Micky Arison, former co-captain Udonis Haslem or Spoelstra.
“I love Pat and I know he loves me,” Wade said. “The fact that we didn’t talk, that hurt. And that was my deciding factor.
“It wasn’t about the Arison family, I know they love me and I know they wanted me there. I know Spo wanted me there. I know Udonis and those guys. But at the end of the day, I didn’t hear from the guy I needed to.”
Wade also spoke of Chris Bosh and Goran Dragic being addressed at a higher level when it came to negotiations, although he stressed he did not begrudge either their contracts.
In addition, he made a point of noting Spoelstra success during the Big Three era alongside LeBron James and Bosh, and beyond.
“I think what he’s been able to accomplish in his short career so far as a head coach has just been remarkable and I don’t think a lot of people give him the credit he deserves,” he said. “But, at the end of the day, he doesn’t look for that. That’s not why he does this. He’s one of the great coaches in this game and it all started from him being so stubborn to who he is and what they wanted to do.”