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Bulls' stars try to clear air after recent rants

Jimmy Butler, Rajon Rondo, Dwyane Wade further explain their recent public statements about state of team

NBA.com Staff

The news cycle, fake or otherwise, was hungry for fresh contest, so in the Chicago Bulls’ ongoing saga of he said/he posted, the focus naturally shifted to the team’s shootaround session Friday morning at the Advocate Center practice facility.

Except by the time Chicago’s coaches and players wrapped up that workout, salvos had been replaced by spin.

The basketball session was delayed by about an hour by what the principals later explained was a team meeting. Eventually, coach Fred Hoiberg revealed that he met privately with Rajon Rondo, Dwyane Wade and Jimmy Butler and said the three veteran players had been fined for putting Bulls business in the street.

Wade and Butler had called out unspecified teammates via harsh postgame comments to the media after Wednesday’s loss to Atlanta, followed by Rondo’s Instagram post Thursday afternoon questioning Wade and Butler.

One after another, Bulls GM Gar Forman, Butler, Wade, Rondo and Hoiberg stood before Chicago reporters. The three players and coach stood answered questions for minutes, but Forman made a statement for about 90 seconds and left.

“We were extremely disappointed that several players chose to speak out after our last game,” Forman said. “You know, every team has issues. It’s our strong belief that when you have issues or critical comments, you keep those issues or critical comments in-house.”

He added: “It is totally unacceptable. And we made it very clear to the players that were involved that it’s unacceptable. It’s a distraction that’s not needed. We think it’s a detriment to team growth.”

For those who see the Bulls’ mediocre results (23-24) and both on-court and off-court issues as driven by poor roster construction and the risk taken in hiring Hoiberg, Forman’s comments were a Band-Aid, shushing those involved but fixing nothing.

For those who prefer to hang on utterances, well, there were a lot of words. So many words. Few of which would seem to matter much until we see Chicago on the court again, against Miami Friday night and Philadelphia Sunday and beyond. The real questions to be answered by actions include how Rondo (though mostly relegated to the second unit lately) plays with Wade and Butler, how Wade and Butler relate to role players such as Doug McDermott, Nikola Mirotic, Bobby Portis and others, and whether the supporting cast finds motivation in or feels defeated by their performances being bandied about.

Hoiberg’s and the coaching staff’s credibility with the players still remains very much in play.

But considering this all began with words and social media, here’s a Twitter timeline from Bulls beat writers, dutifully chronicling the damage control:

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