Dwyane Wade has not been particularly happy with the way the Bulls have played lately. Just last week, he issued an apology to Bulls fans following a loss to the Hawks. And after the Bulls lost to the Hawks again on Wednesday night in dramatic fashion—Chicago led by 10 points with three minutes left before eventually losing by 5—Wade had more to say about the current Bulls team.
He didn’t apologize to Bulls fans this time around, though. Instead, he blasted his Bulls teammates and challenged them to care more about winning. Wade, who is clearly frustrated right now, went off and said that he thinks the Bulls players need to reassess the way they’re approaching the game of basketball.
"I don’t know what happened," said Wade, who scored 33 points against the Hawks on Wednesday. "But we continue to be in these kinds of situations and lose games like this. Everyone don’t care enough. You got to care enough, man. It’s got to mean that much to you to want to win. And it doesn’t. So I don’t know what happened. I don’t know how to fix it. It just doesn’t mean enough to guys around here to want to win ballgames. It pisses me off, but I can’t be frustrated and I can’t care too much for these guys. They have to care for themselves. You got to do better. You got to do better with knowing where your shot’s coming and knock them down. You got to do better with knowing film, knowing personnel. Just as a team, just got to do better, man."
Wade continued by repeatedly questioning whether or not his teammates care enough.
"I wish I could say that everyone in here is going to go home and not eat tonight," he said. "I can’t say that. I wish I could, but I don’t know that they care enough. Games are supposed to hurt. You’re not supposed to sleep. You’re not supposed to want to talk to anybody. These games are supposed to hurt. I don’t know if that is in guys in this locker room. Hopefully they can prove me wrong, but I will challenge them to see if losses like this hurt."
And Wade finished by saying that the problems with the Bulls seem to extend to both practices and games.
"This game is more than just shot makes and misses," he said. "I don’t know. Guys have to answer that question themselves. I’m not at home with people, but I don’t know if I see enough guys who really, really want it. As long as it’s like this, it has to hurt them. I’m 35 years old, man. I’ve got three championships. It shouldn’t hurt me more than it hurts these young guys. They have to want it. If they don’t want it, then we’ll show up and play Friday. Hopefully we win; if we don’t, we [do it] again. Keep it going until the season’s over. It has to change. It has to hurt inside to lose games like this. This shit should fucking hurt."
Later, Wade also posted this on Twitter:
Point taken.
Wade wasn’t the only Bulls player who sounded off, either. Jimmy Butler, who scored 40 points against the Hawks, was upset with his teammates, too.
"Motherfuckers just got to care if we win or lose," he said. "At the end of the day, do whatever it takes to help the team win. You play your role to the tee. Be a star in your role, man. That’s how you win in this league, man. You have to embrace what this team, what this organization needs for you to do on either end of the floor. 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."
The Bulls will be back on the floor on Friday night to play against, oddly enough, Wade’s former team, the Heat. It’ll be interesting to see how the team responds to getting called out so publicly by its two best players.
