When LeBron James first joined forces with Dwyane Wade in Miami, some wondered whether they could really co-exist, given both players’ need to have the ball in their hands to be fully effective.
By that time, as it turns out, Wade’s knees would prove to be in on the verge of giving him all sorts of problems, and playing alongside James may have been the best thing that could have happened to him. The player formerly known as “Flash” no longer had to try to carry an entire franchise and could heavily defer to James, while still being effective enough to help the team win two consecutive championships. It’s been clear, however, that Wade has not been himself over the past few seasons – especially in the playoffs.
Wade admitted earlier in October that he regrets having surgery to remove the meniscus in his left knee back in 2002. He said it had caused him knee issues throughout his career. That was the case during last season’s playoffs when he averaged a career-low 15.9 points – far below his career playoff average of 23.7 points – and it remained to be the case throughout this summer. He did manage to avoid surgery, but his knee is still not where he wants it to be, according to Jeff Zillgitt of USA Today:
“I’m getting better every day,” Wade said. “But I’m not where I want to be. When the season starts, I won’t be where I want to be. But as the season goes on, I’ll get stronger and stronger and better.”
Wade has been working diligently with the well-known trainer Tim Grover over the past couple of months to strengthen his knees and announced on Monday that he had finally finished the program just one week before the start of the season:
2 nite i just finished my 8 week program w the guru Tim Grover…alot of hours and alot of pain but I… http://t.co/4PD25yBnwv
— THREE (@DwyaneWade) October 22, 2013
He may not fully be where he wants to be, but his performance against the San Antonio Spurs last week suggests that he’s well enough to get things rolling:
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James Park is the chief blogger of Sheridan Hoops. Find him on twitter @SheridanBlog.