In a recent interview, Dwyane Wade shot down the idea of returning to his home town to play for the Bulls, questioning the loyalty of the organization that did not keep Michael Jordan or Scottie Pippen around. Even though those two chose to distance themselves from the Bulls. Whatever.
Bulls General Manager Gus Forman stepped up to bat for the Bulls in an interview with ESPNChicago.
“Anyone who would question our loyalty is obviously misinformed,” Forman told ESPNChicago.com. “I think it absolutely ignores our record, which speaks for itself.
“We have a number of ex-players that are -- and have been -- employed within our organization within a variety of capacities, ranging from the front office to the coaching staff, in our business office, as part of our broadcasting teams. We take great pride in not only how we treat our current players, but also in how we treat our former players.”
The list of former Bulls involved with the team is pretty long and starts high up the ladder with Vice President John Paxson, who is putting that Notre Dame education to use. As ESPNChicago points out, other players who have had front office jobs include Bill Cartwright, Randy Brown, Bill Wennington, Stacey King, Pete Myers and B.J. Armstrong.
Frankly, that reality doesn’t really matter here -- if Wade believes the Bulls are not loyal as an organization then that is the perception that matters. It means Wade is not coming to play in Chicago (which isn’t really a shock, he was going to stay in Miami anyway). The only question is if Wade’s perception taints the well for other free agents.