What more could Dwyane Wade want? After two first-round exits in the 2009 and 2010 NBA Playoffs, Miami's favorite two-guard seemed doomed to superlative individual performance on teams with no shot at winning titles. Something had to be done. A decision had to be made.
Dwyane Wade’s quest to rewind time won’t be easy
The Heat star was able to fade into the background with LeBron James on his team. Now, he must reassume the leading role four years and several injuries later. Can he do it?
Matthew Stockman
LeBron James proved to be just what the doctor ordered, making life easier for Wade in a multitude of ways. In the past, Wade was tasked with do everything. He brought the ball up the court, defended the opponent's best wing player and executed the offense in crucial situations. As he grew older and James continued to rise, Wade also played less minutes than before. Last year, you could argue he used the equivalent of paid time off during the regular season.
It’s not a stretch to say no superstar had it made more than Wade. With four NBA Finals appearances and two more rings, Wade etched in stone his case as a first-ballot Hall of Famer and his team’s all-time greatest player without actually shouldering the burden of carrying the franchise. He lived one helluva life for four years.
Then, James decided to take his talents back home. In the span of a few months, the Miami Heat went from reloading their super team to rebuilding the foundation of the roster to save face. After four years of sitting in the passenger seat of LeBron's powerful Batmobile, Wade now takes the keys of his used Nissan Maxima. It's a nice car and it was hot four years ago, but it's not the Batmobile. Nothing's like the Batmobile.
This is life for Dwyane Wade, a 32-year old with almost 900 games and 32,000 minutes on his timecard. Four years after he ceded the role to LeBron, he must once again become the leader of men in Miami.
There are some areas of continuity for Wade to use. Many other key parts of the last four years still remain on the roster, parts like Chris Bosh, Mario Chalmers and Chris Andersen. Bosh will now be sitting in the front passenger seat alongside Wade, but Bosh too will have the opportunity to take the wheel like he did in Toronto four years prior. This may be more of a dual partnership than a Batman-Robin situation.
Moreover, this Miami roster has been rebuilt to be leaner and faster. Role players like James Ennis, Shawne Williams and rookie Shabazz Napier will be called on to run the wings on fast breaks and defend on the perimeter in ways LeBron and Wade used to when at full strength the last four years. It's asking a lot for the Heat to be as cohesive "on a string" like they were before, but it's a focus head coach Erik Spolestra must take on if Miami has any hope of being a formidable team come playoff time. That means Wade must play closer to his All-Defense first-team level from years past instead of being dazed and confused on lost rotations.
It’s certainly tough to count the guy out. Regardless of how one feels about Wade today, he deserves a ton of credit for being the league’s most unstoppable force eight years ago in winning his first NBA title. If anything, Wade deserves even more credit for adapting his game and being a secondary star to LeBron. Superstar teams don’t always end well, but Miami did in large part because Wade ceded control when many thought he couldn’t.
But asking Wade to play a leading role he hasn’t owned in four years, all while constantly monitoring his physical limits and adapting to new teammates and a tweaked style of play, is asking a hell of a lot. On some nights, we’ll see the old Wade of 30+ points and double-digit free throw attempts. But on many other nights, we’ll be reminded of the Wade that looked incapable of finishing around the rim in the Finals. We’ll understand more easily why LeBron decided to take a second stint in Cleveland.
In a dream scenario, Miami finds a way to squeeze one or two more years out of Wade and Bosh starring like it’s 2010. But of the two players, Bosh is the more likely to revert to his pre-Heat form. He’s younger and has much less of an injury history.
Wade’s climb, on the other hand, is an uphill one. At 32 and with many miles on his body, it’s going to take a major effort to avoid turning into a mere jack-of-all-trades player for a second-tier team in a pedestrian Eastern Conference. The Heat’s modest hopes depend on Wade proving that statement wrong.
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