“I’ve got so many thoughts on this topic." “The Why with Dwyane Wade."
Wade first went back to his speech during the Heat’s ceremony to unveil his statue in front of Kaseya Center in late October.
["A house divided against itself will not stand. Y’all hear that? Current Miami Heat players, y’all hear that? A house divided against itself will not stand. You’re either in or you’re out."]
“I stood up there and said that because the grass isn’t always greener. As someone who was in that situation before … when I left the organization, I wanted them to know that if you don’t want to be here and the way things are working here and you don’t like it, then don’t be here. Because this is not the organization for that.
"The organization will not be run in a way that is going to change to every star that comes into the organization,” Wade said during the latest episode of his podcast. “LeBron James only stayed four years. It wasn’t run the way LeBron James needed it to be run, it wasn’t run the way Dwyane Wade [needed it to be run]. It’s run the way Pat Riley is going to run it and the way the Arisons run it.
“So, it’s a part as a player that you don’t like. We didn’t like that shit. I don’t like the way it went down. I’m not sitting here and saying I like it. But also, too, you have to stand on something. So if the Miami Heat ain’t standing on something, then they become like a lot of these organizations in the NBA. Trying to find their identity, trying to find their culture. No, this is the culture, bro.
Wade alluded to some recent slippage in the Heat’s “iron fist” way of doing things, but added that “I’m glad that we’re back to the culture.”
“We were all looking at Riles like, ‘What’s going on over there? Because you’re trippin’.’ We’re used to iron fists.
“We don’t hear iron fists going on over there. It’s crazy because you would think when you’re in it, you don’t want it. You think you want out, you think you want to go somewhere else. But then when you get out of it, you realize that that structure, that iron fist kept you in line. Not kept you in line like a little soldier, it kept you in line because this big world in the NBA will eat you alive. So, that structure kept you being able to be successful, kept you in a space where it wasn’t just about you. You knew that when you play in Miami, it’s bigger than that.
“A lot of this that’s going on, it’s just ugly because I know there ain’t no communication going on. At the end, it’s ego, it’s pride, it’s jockeying for position and it’s ugly on our organization. But also at the same time from a person that’s been inside of the organization, iron fist. If we’re going to be that way, let’s be that way. And the stuff that we’ve been hearing as former players, we don’t like it. We didn’t get away with that shit. We didn’t get away with that. But Pat Riley, he’s back.
“The Heat was a soft landing spot for Jimmy and Jimmy was exactly the star that the Heat needed for six years — Finals, big moments that they’ve had together,” said Wade, who formed a friendship with Butler when they were Bulls teammates during the 2016-17 season. “It’s ending tragically, this is tragic. This is a tragic way to end a relationship. So as a former player, it’s ugly on our franchise, it’s a stain on our franchise that we continue to have the way that the relationships break up. But also, too, on the other side, you don’t run that organization as a player. So you get to that space sometimes where you want to do things your way. It’s Pat Riley’s way.
“When I look at the organization and I look at all the players that came through, yeah, a lot of guys have left and a lot of top guys have left because we’ve run into that guy [Riley]. We ran into that guy and when you run into that guy in Miami, you see who wins. You see who gets the last laugh.”
