After not speaking for more than a year, Noah and Butler patched things up this summer during some training sessions in California, according to sources. Noah says he and Rose still talk about how much they miss some of the good times they had with Thibodeau and their teammates in Chicago.

"I know I never would have gotten those awards [including Defensive Player of the Year in 2014] without Jimmy Butler, without Taj Gibson," Noah says. "I'll probably look back on my basketball career and say, 'You know what? Those were the best times in my life.' ... We definitely had our differences. But at the end of the day, Taj, Jimmy, Pooh [Rose], all those guys are brothers for life."