The Chicago Bulls teased the NBA world when they formed a trio of Dwyane Wade, Rajon Rondo and Jimmy Butler in the 2016-17 NBA season. While no one pegged them as championship material, there was a sense that their roster carried a considerable upside.
At the time, Rondo was fresh off a season where he led the NBA in assists per game. Wade had just wrapped up an All-Star campaign with the Miami Heat, and Butler was solidifying his reputation as a star in the league.
However, the Bulls finished with a middling 41-41 record, just enough to secure the eighth seed in the Eastern Conference. While they surprised everyone in the playoffs by going up 2-0 against the top-seeded Boston Celtics team, an injury to Rondo disrupted their momentum and contributed to their eventual elimination.
Recently, Rondo appeared as a guest on the “Old Man & The Three” podcast hosted by former NBA sharpshooter JJ Redick. When questioned about why the 2017 Bulls squad underperformed, Rondo didn’t mince words, pointing to the lack of team chemistry and highlighting Butler and Wade’s contribution to the problem.
“Chemistry, it wasn’t there,” Rondo replied. “Like I mentioned earlier, Jimmy and D-Wade, they kind of were on their own as far as, I guess, even in practice, even off the court, which, again, every team is different, and there’s nothing wrong with that. But there wasn’t really a connect between the old guys and the young. That was why it was so much friction throughout the year.”
