The latest episode of "As the Bulls Turn" brought scowls from a team that would rather focus on bettering its .500 record and staying afloat in the Eastern Conference playoff race than discuss a trade rumor.
Seemingly like clockwork, another rumor involving the Bulls _ this one from Bleacher Report about a possible trade of leading scorer Jimmy Butler _ has surfaced and the battle is to ignore the near-constant turmoil that seems to surround the team.
"Oh, I don't even listen to that," veteran guard Dwyane Wade said of rumors after Friday's practice at the Advocate Center in Chicago. "It's nothing I listen to."
It's also not anything about which Wade plans on talking to Butler.
"For what?" Wade asked. "Somebody wrote an article? Who cares? You can't control somebody waking up one day and wanting to stir something up in Chicago and write an article. The only thing you can do is bring your butt in here and work, and if they call you and say, 'Hey, you've been moved,' shake their hand and you say, 'Thank you for everything,' and you leave.
"I always told my teammates, because you never know what's going to happen in this league, you never know where you're going to be, 'Stay professional.' Just like you have your opportunities in free agency ... to decide where you want to go, they have opportunities to move you. There's nothing you can do about it so don't listen to it. It's the time of the year where everybody's name is being thrown in a hat, and most of it doesn't happen."
Still, why is it Bulls players often find themselves in the rumor mill?
"It's a big market _ it's the Bulls," Wade said. "Our best player is in a rumor right now. It has been a rumor every week but nothing has happened. It's ... something to talk about, a couple of extra (Internet) hits. It's the way the world works, the world we're in. Someone decided to write something with no merit. And if it does have merit, way to be first in line for the scoop."
Coach Fred Hoiberg said he's "not surprised at all" about rumors "because that's the world we live in, unfortunately" and that he will not allow them to wear him down.
"You try to stay away from it as much as possible," Hoiberg said. "Keep your head down, keep working. I think we've made significant progress these last couple of weeks as a basketball team, winning four of six and having some really good wins in that stretch. We just have to continue to fight for each other."
One thing Hoiberg does know is Butler's importance to the team.
"Jimmy has been unbelievable in every possible way this year," Hoiberg said. "His leadership and obviously his play speaks for itself. He's playing as well as anybody in the league, especially when you look at this last week. We've played pretty well as a basketball team in winning games against Charlotte (on Monday) and obviously the win at Cleveland (on Wednesday). Jimmy is doing everything right now and ... we anticipate he'll continue to do it."
