According to an NBA general manager who spoke to ESPN, Dwyane Wade will join LeBron James and Chris Bosh in Chicago next season. I wonder if that unnamed GM is the Chicago Bulls' own Gar Forman, and if he's high.
Theoretically, that scenario could work only if the Bulls prove to be more attractive than the Heat, the Nets, and the Knicks, who also have room under the salary cap to compete for those three marquee free agents. And since the Bulls have the game's best young point guard in Derrick Rose and one of the league's best rebounders in Joakim Noah, they may be closest to winning the championship those three players crave.
Here's the problem: Games are played with only one basketball.
A team with Rose at the point, Wade at the two, LeBron at the three and Bosh at the four is simply too good. Each of those players is accustomed to being "The Man," as they should given their incredible individual talents.
They can each be unselfish when they're playing for an Olympic dream team, because that's just a single tournament. Over the course of an entire season, then the playoffs, the foursome is liable to fight over the right to take the game's last shot. Or one player will sulk while the other proves to be slightly better. Even if they get along, these superheroes are liable to simply get bored of blowing out their competition night in, night out. Athletes like this thrive on competition, and if they all join the same team, they eliminate competition.
Trust me. I'd love to believe that the unnamed GM is right. Being a native Midwesterner, I'm a lifelong Bulls fan. But there's no way you'll see three of the elite free agents on the same team.
