Rajon Rondo fires back online at Dwyane Wade’s, Jimmy Butler’s leadership after rant

Dwyane Wade was frustrated after his team blew a 10-point lead inside three minutes to go to the Hawks Wednesday, wasting a 33-point game from him on the second night of a back-to-back, so he unloaded on his team postgame, via Vincent Goodwill of CSNChicago.com.

“I don’t know what happened, but you continue to be in these kinds of situations and lose games like this, you really don’t care enough,” Wade said. “You don’t care enough.... It pisses me off, but I can’t be frustrated and I can’t care too much for these guys. They got to care for themselves. We got to do better.”

Jimmy Butler jumped on that train.

“I heard what D-(Wade) was over there saying, yeah,” Butler said. “Mother------- just got to care if we win or lose. At the end of the day, do whatever it takes to help the team win... On top of everything else, just play every possession like it’s your last. We don’t play hard all the time. It’s very disappointing whenever we don’t play hard.”

Specifically, the veterans were frustrated with Nikola Mirotic and Michael Carter-Williams, according to a report.

Beyond Mirotic, told by several people that some of Wade/Butler frustration directed at Carter-Williams.

— K.C. Johnson (@KCJHoop) January 26, 2017

But the youngsters on that team have a defender in Rajon Rondo, who castigated Butler and Wade on Instagram.

[embed]https://www.instagram.com/p/BPvs5RCDGO8/?taken-by=rajonrondo&hl=en[/embed]

Damn.

Remember when Rondo called them the “three alphas?” That has gotten a little dog-eat-dog. Shootaround Friday for the Bulls is going to be interesting.

Rondo reportedly has been close to the team’s younger players.

Rondo has been big supporter of younger players on Bulls since practicing with them at summer league. Those players praise Rondo often.

— K.C. Johnson (@KCJHoop) January 27, 2017

I’m not going to guess at who is right (although some close to the team don’t think Rondo was out of line in concept, it was more how he delivered it; as with nearly everything in life, it’s likely a mixture of both versions). None of that matters, Wade and Butler ultimately win here because they are the team’s two best players. While it’s fair to discuss if the Bulls should bring Wade back if he opts out, Butler is the future. Butler is the cornerstone. What’s more, as Sean Highkin of The Athletic and I discussed on a recent PBT Podcast, guys such as Mirotic, Carter-Williams, and others such as Bobby Portis or Doug McDermott need to prove they are reliable NBA rotation players to stick around in Chicago. Have those players developed enough to be trusted?

As for Rondo, he was already all but gone from Chicago, if not via trade before the deadline he almost certainly will be bought out right after. That’s as much or more about how he hasn’t fit in on the court with this team than his rant here.