Eastern Notes: James, Wade, Meeks, Bullock

The partnership of Dwyane Wade and LeBron James (along with Chris Bosh, of course) was an extremely successful one for the Heat, resulting in four appearances in the NBA Finals and two league titles. In advance of tonight’s matchup of the Bulls and Cavs, Wade spoke to the media about his time with LeBron in Miami. The shooting guard told Nick Friedell of ESPN.com that he was the one who altered his game the most after James took his talents to South Beach, adding that he wouldn’t change a thing about the time he spent alongside James. “I definitely changed mine more,” Wade said. “It’s not even a conversation. There’s no conversation to have. I definitely had to change mine more.”

We all knew the sacrifice that was going to be [made],” Wade continued. “Obviously, you sit down and you talk about playing together. You think you know what’s [going to happen], you try to cover things in that moment, but then once you start playing together you realize it’s harder than what you thought. But we all knew we had to sacrifice. Chris Bosh, too. He’s somebody who they don’t talk about, he had to sacrifice a lot too. But at the end of the day, we sacrificed points, article hits, but what we gained was championships, friendships and brotherhoods that last a lifetime. So I’m sure if we could do it all over again we’d do it exactly the same way.

Here’s more from out of the Eastern Conference:

  • Offseason trade acquisition, Jodie Meeks, is set to make his season debut for the Magic this evening, the team announced. The 29-year-old underwent foot surgery back in July after missing all but three games in 2015/16, and will become an unrestricted free agent at season’s end.
  • Staying on the injury front, Pistons executive/coach Stan Van Gundy confirmed that swingman Reggie Bullock will go under the knife on Saturday to repair his torn left meniscus, Rod Beard of The Detroit News relays (via Twitter). Bullock is expected to be sidelined for two to four months following the procedure, per a report by Shams Charania of The Vertical, but Van Gundy did not give an official estimate on when the player may return to action in his statement today, Beard adds.
  • Paul George, who has missed six of the last seven Pacers contests with an ankle injury, says he has to reestablish himself as the team’s leader once he is able to return to game action, Nate Taylor of USA Today relays. “I think just sitting out and watching, I’ve got to get back to being the guy for us,” George said. “I’ve got to have the trust of the team, I’ve got to have the trust of the organization. This has been my group, this has been my team. I’ve got to get back to that. That’s what I’m looking forward to, being our leader.” The swingman intends to play in Indiana’s contest against the Clippers on Sunday, Taylor notes.
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