CHICAGO -- On a day the Bulls introduced their newest members, the futures of some familiar faces still ruled the day.
Shortly after introducing Zach LaVine, Kris Dunn and Lauri Markkanen, executive vice president John Paxson said that if Dwyane Wade wants to pursue a buyout that it would have to be "advantageous" to the Bulls.
"As far as the buyout, that has not been broached," Paxson said. "I would say this: In this type of scenario, it would have to benefit us. Dwyane was a great pro last year, and he's been around a lot of different situations. He was in Miami when they had a couple rebuilding years as well. So right now we're operating under the assumption that he'll be here. But like I said, if that subject is ever broached by them, it would have to be advantageous for us."
Wade exercised his $23.8 million player option a week before his June 27 deadline. But Wade also has told people he didn't sign up for a rebuild, and that's what the Bulls will be doing now that they've traded Jimmy Butler for the aforementioned players.
Wade also projects to come off the bench once LaVine returns from rehabbing his torn left ACL.
"We do understand that veterans are important for a young basketball team, the right veterans -- guys that are good teammates, are supportive of the young guys and can continue to teach them how to be pros," Paxson said. "Those are things we'll be addressing."
Rondo would be a perfect in that role and the Bulls value him. But he also is due $13.4 million. The Bulls are expected to waive him for the mere $3 million that's guaranteed by Friday's deadline. They've discussed trying to re-sign Rondo at a lower annual salary, sources said. But Rondo is expected to draw interest from several teams in free agency and also wants to play.
Coincidentally, Rondo is represented by the same agent as LaVine, Bill Duffy, who attended Tuesday's news conference.
At that conference, each of the new Bulls talked about how excited they are to get to work.
"I'm feeling really good," LaVine said. "I'm attacking this injury like I do everything in life, working my butt off for it every day, in the gym and doing as much as possible. There's always that base timeline of nine to 12 months with it. I feel like with my ability I'm able to come back early. But I really haven't set a timetable for that. I'm very confident that I'll come back better. This has given me time to work on my mental game, my strength and learn the game more. I have no fear at all coming back from this.
"I'm just here trying to do the best I can. I'm humble and very happy to come to a great franchise like this. Not everybody gets this opportunity. Growing up, I was a 'Space Jam' fan. I know everything about Michael Jordan. I was talking to Pax, who knew him since before I was born. It's a great opportunity and humbling and satisfying to be here in these colors and this city."
Dunn acknowledged the difficulties he had during his rookie season.
"I accept that I had a bad year. But I'm always in the gym right now," Dunn said. "My rookie season, there were a lot of ups and downs, basically like a roller coaster ride. Playing under Tom, he helped me become a professional. He loves players that love to work. He made sure all his guys are always in the gym working hard, attacking every day, trying to improve each day. Just keep learning the game. Tom really helped me be a pro. What I can bring to the Bulls is my tenacity on defense. I really take pride in my defense. I'm going to try to bring that over here and just interact with my new teammates. Get to know a lot of guys, their personalities. Come out here and try to improve every day."
Markkanen said he's confident his shooting ability can translate to the next level but acknowledged he has to improve defensively.
"I know there's work to do, like always," he said. "I'm the type of person who's going to be in the gym, and I'm going to work on that. I know I'm going to get better when I put the work in. I'm pretty confident that it's going to happen."
The full rebuild is on.
"Thursday night we made a decision to move a great player. But over these last four or five days, we sat and talked and are really happy about the direction we're about to head down," Paxson said. "After last night having sat with our three new players and getting to know them a little better, we feel even better about it.
"We've got three high-quality, high-character young men to join our organization. We believe they're going to play the game the right way and fit into everything we're doing. We've defined our direction and will make decisions based on our direction from this day forward."
Sports on 06/28/2017