Y’all remember “Flash” don’t you? That was Dwyane Wade’s nickname back when he entered the NBA, and it was appropriate for two reasons: Few players entered the league with as much flash and flair as Wade, and no player had a nickname that rhymed so perfectly with what could have been his second nickname — “Crash.”
The old Wade was a wonder to watch, a player who drove to the hoop with reckless abandon and drew fouls in droves — often ending up hitting the hardwood with a thud, a style of play that took a tremendous physical toll on his body.
Wade has become a completely different player as his career has evolved, playing with less reckless abandon and more control — an evolutionary process that can be demonstrated with numbers (or by simply watching his ruthlessly efficient fourth quarter in Miami’s close-out win over Chicago last night.)
Consider this:
- In 2008-09, two seasons before he joined forcs with LeBron James, Wade attempted 771 free throws and 278 3-pointers while shooting .491 from the field. To put it another way, he averaged 9.8 FT attempts and 3.5 3-point attempts per game.
- In 2012-13, his third season playing alongside James, he attempted a total of just 66 3-pointers and went to the foul line 425 times while shooting a career-best .521 from the field. He averaged 6.2 FT attempts and slightly less than one 3-point attempt per game (He is 0-for-1 on 3-pointers during the playoffs, BTW).
With this being the day and age of player-bashing, some have criticized Wade for becoming too deferential to James.
To which I say: Gimme a break.
Or, as Chris Perkins wrote in today’s featured column: “I’ll never doubt Dwyane Wade again.”
It takes a special player and a special person to subjugate one’s ego and statistics for the betterment of the team as a whole, and Wade should be applauded for it. We are watching one of the greatest basketball teams ever assembled, and although the final chapter of this season’s story has yet to be written, the criticism of Wade is both unwarranted and uninformed.
More on that — plus my thoughts on the Memphis Grizzlies defeating the Oklahoma City Thunder in 5 games, just as I predicted, in this video with CineSport’s Noah Coslov.
(For more video analysis and commentary, click over to our CineSport page.)