CHICAGO -- Now that Dwyane Wade is playing so well with the second unit, he doesn't want to leave it.

Wade, who had one of his best games of the season Monday with 24 points and six rebounds in the Cavs' 113-91 win over Chicago, told cleveland.com that he did not want to rejoin the starting lineup when Isaiah Thomas becomes the starting point guard -- potentially leaving coach Tyronn Lue with one less option to find room in his rotation for Derrick Rose.

Lue has declined to say how he'll make all the pieces fit, including Rose, who reported to work Monday for the first time since leaving the team Nov. 22 to contemplate his basketball future. The Cavs have won 12 straight, so they're obviously rolling with cohesion among starters and reserves.

Thomas, who continues to rehab his right hip, will start when he returns. Theoretically, Wade could fit alongside him as a shooting guard, because Thomas is an outside shooter and Wade is a slasher.

Neither Rose nor Wade are known as shooters, which made them an awkward fit when they started together in Cleveland's backcourt for the first two games. J.R. Smith is a 3-point threat, which, again, theoretically, could make him an easier match with Rose.

Wade asked to come off the bench following the Cavs' third game not because of Rose -- who was hurt at the time, anyway -- but because he wasn't getting the shots he needs to get a rhythm on the first unit.

Since joining the bench Oct. 24 against the Bulls, Wade is averaging 12.9 points and shooting .481 from the field on about 10 shots per game. As a starter (granted, a small sample size), he was scoring 5.7 points on about eight shots and shooting 28 percent.

"I'm good where I'm at," Wade told cleveland.com. "The problem would only be worse when Isaiah comes back, because he's going to need his shots. Where I am now, it's working for me and for this team."

Lue played a strong role in bringing Rose to the Cavs last summer as a free agent, so he may feel some responsibility to give him another chance. Right now, Rose is out rehabbing his sore left ankle. When he returns, Lue said Rose could help Cleveland this way: "Just be who he is.

"Explosive, get into the paint, pushing the basketball," Lue said. "Getting to the free throw line. Just being who he is."

So if Lue chooses to play Rose, it would probably be with Wade, who's been running the point on Cleveland's second unit.

Lue was asked if Wade needed to be the point guard on the second unit to have the kind of success he's having, and he said: "Not really."

"There's still ways to get him the ball," Lue said. "Just coming off the second side, still running the same action, so he can handle or D Rose can handle. Not a problem."

In talking to a large group of reporters Monday, Wade said moving to the bench this season "became an easier adjustment than anything since I left Miami that I've done." He said "this is the most fun I've had in a few years, just enjoying the game." LeBron James is pushing him as the early leader to be sixth man of the year in the NBA.

"I'm a little uncomfortable with all the Sixth Man talk because I'm out there with a great unit," Wade said. "We all are helping this team be better. Kyle (Korver) is the No. 1 plus/minus guy on this team, so maybe he's the Sixth Man of the Year. But I'm just having fun with the guys I'm out there with."

And then Wade said "right now I'm playing the role that's aligned for me to play.

"Hopefully it continues," he said. "If it changes, then I'll make another adjustment and try to be the best at that. But right now hopefully it stays this way for me."

Wade shot 9-of-13 from the field against the Bulls. He said it was a result of the spacing on the court from playing with Korver and Channing Frye on the second unit, and also James.

"There's not one situation that he hasn't been in so it's a luxury for our team to be able to have him to come off our bench and be able to lead that group," James said. "The way he's playing right now, he's just in a great groove."