When the Bulls signed Dwyane Wade this summer, they knew it would come with some form of a maintenance program. Nobody put a hard number on his minutes, or declared that he would sit out back-to-backs. But last season in Miami, Wade averaged 30.5 minutes per game, easily the fewest of his 13-year career. It’s not a coincidence that his lighter workload led to him playing 74 games, the most he’d played since the 2010-11 season.
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In his first year in Chicago, finding a balance of making sure his impact is felt and his body is preserved is going to be an ongoing, evolving process. Take, for example, the bizarre scheduling decision that gave the Bulls three preseason games in four nights this Friday, Saturday and Monday, after almost a week off.
“I won’t be playing all those,” Wade laughed when reminded of the upcoming schedule after practice on Tuesday. “I guarantee you that.”
In the first week of camp, Wade went full-bore, doing everything in practice. He played just 12 minutes in the opening game of the preseason on October 4, but as one of the few veterans on the team, and by some distance the most decorated, he had to make sure the young players knew he wasn’t taking practices off at will.
But now that the games have started, it’s been up to Wade what he does or doesn’t do. So far, it’s been a balancing act between keeping himself fresh and making sure he still has an impact when he’s on the court.
“He’s done a really good job of picking and choosing his spots of when to get himself rest during practice,” Bulls coach Fred Hoiberg said. “We have a teaching segment, he gets out, he may not get back in if his body cools down a little bit. Right now we’ve been trying to finish him playing the end of quarters and he’s shown the ability to make things happen at the end of the quarters, we’ve had our best stretches of basketball. I give Dwyane credit, he does a really good job of understanding his body and when he needs a little time off during practice, we definitely give it to him.”
Wade played his most extended stretch of the exhibition season in Saturday’s win over the Pacers, when he scored 22 points in 27 minutes. Once the regular season tips off, he’ll play a few more minutes than that, but likely not many. It will all depend on what his body is telling him, and only Wade knows what he’s capable of doing.
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“[The Bulls] have done a good job of asking me what I need,” Wade said. “It has to be a feel of me and I’ve done it so far, I’ve done it some days in practice here where I’ve started and then I coach from the side. Just being smart and understanding I am turning 35 this year. Some days I feel great. Some days I feel 34. So I have to be smart and I want to be out here with those guys most of the nights we put on those uniforms, so same thing I did last year. I know my body. I’m just trying to be smart about how much I push it.”
Wade’s built-in equity is why the Bulls’ staff feels comfortable allowing him to dictate his own workload. It’s not just his Hall of Fame playing credentials — it’s what he brings as a teammate that’s so indisputable that nobody has a second thought about deferring to him about sitting out a practice. Already in the short time he’s officially been a Bull, his impact on the culture has been immeasurable in the example he’s set, even when he’s resting.
“I’ve been around for a very, very long time now,” Wade said. “I’ve figured out how to push myself, how much to push myself and when to kind of lay back a little bit. It’s great that the coaches allow me to make those decisions. We just stay in communication. That’s all it is, it’s all communication on how you feel. These guys know that I’m a worker. Just like most of these guys here, I’m going to work and make sure I’m right and ready. But some days it’s going to be a little less on the basketball court.”
It’s going to take some time to find a balance that works for everyone, making sure Wade plays enough to make an impact on the court but not so much that he over-exerts himself and risks long-term injury. So far, the theme has been communication, and there is ultimately a sense of trust that Wade is the one who knows best.