First of all, I just want to thank Dave Morrison for becoming the first person to join my Asylum. Welcome Dave, I've been expecting you.
If you've read my first article, you'll understand that I'm trying to build an army of readers similar to Max Kellerman.
One down, the rest of the world to go...
On to today's blog.
Triple-Threat: Pass
Oh, how the mighty have fallen.
In 2004, Dwyane Wade snuck up on the League. After carrying the Heat past Baron Davis and the New Orleans Hornets, people knew Wade had arrived.
Then in 2005-06, Wade, alongside Shaquille O'Neal, willed his way to an NBA Championship past the Dallas Mavericks. Shortly after, he followed that performance up by playing in the FIBA games.
It was only a matter of time before his body would break down on him.
During the 2006-07 season, Wade missed a total of 31 games due to injury. However, he still managed to average 27.4 points, 7.5 assists, and 4.7 rebounds.
Not even "Flash" could avoid lightning striking twice as
Wade missed another 31 games during the 2007-08 season due to injury.Many wrote Wade off after this. Some deemed his 2006 success as the pinnacle of his career. Also that season, Shaq was traded to the Phoenix Suns. This further developed the idea that Wade would never see the light of the Finals again.
However, Wade had different ideas.
After training with the legendary Tim Grover, Wade put on a stellar performance during the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Many recognize that it was his performance that kept the USA team steady during their gold-medal run.
Now, we are here in the present. Wade's Heat (7-7) have cooled a couple degrees due to their undersized positions in the front court.
The average size of the Heat's starting frontcourt is roughly 6'8", compared to the Celtics' and Lakers' 6'9" and 7'0 starting frontcourt, respectively. It doesn't seem that bad on paper, but when you add in the fact that Boston and L.A. have more big players on their bench, Miami doesn't stack up...literally.
It seems as if Wade has traded places with Kobe Bryant. Remember, just three years ago it was Bryant who was on the outside looking in.
The Lakers missed the playoffs for the fifth time in franchise history. This was after Shaq cut ties with the Lakers. Considering that after the "Big Moocher," or as I like to call him, the "Man-of-Steal," left Miami with a dismal 15 wins last season, I'd say Wade is in good company.
As Wade leads his young team this season, he's averaging a career best 28.5 points, 7.6 assists, and 4.9 rebounds while shooting 48.8 percent from the field.
Wade went from winning gold in the summer to struggling to win at all in the regular season. He may not have all the talent that is necessary to win right now, but he's proven time and time again that he has the heart.
Fall down seven times, stand up eight right?
I'm out.
comments (6) write a comment »
write a new comment
about 1 month ago
Just wondering, how is Wade "struggling" to win this season? The Miami Heat are sitting at .500 which is good enough for 6th place in the Eastern Conference. The Miami Heat seem to be right where everyone expected them to be, or dare I say better. 8-8 is nothing to sneeze at with 3 huge role players injured.
from about 1 month ago
While I do believe that 8-8 is good in the Eastern Conference, I don't believe that it's good enough for Wade. This is a guy who was on a championship team just two years ago, and now look at what Miami has done since then.
Nothing.
Plus, if Miami does make it to the playoffs, I can confidently say that they're not making it out of the first round. Wade is wonderful player and part of the reason that they're at .500, but I hope you don't think that he can maintain this role. If Miami doesn't get some help for this guy, he's likely to get re-injured or worse; aggravate something else.
about 1 month ago
I'd say that a supporting cast of Shawn Marion, Udonis Haslem, Michael Beasley and an amazing rookie point guard Mario Chalmers is pretty darn good support. I'm pretty sure that there bench (once healthy) will be a very aggressive one which will fit in prefect with the starting line-ups tempo. Look for the Heat to turn heads in the second half of the season.
from about 1 month ago
For your sake, I hope that magically the rest of the East falls off and that Miami can get better. The point is, come the second half of the season, the other teams will turn it up a notch. I think that Wade will turn it up, but when you have two hustle players (Marion and Haslem) and two rookies (Beasley and Chalmers) and a fresh-off-the-injury-list bench, it's no bueno in Wade County.
Did you see what he had to do last night to get a win in OT against the defensively miserable Golden State? I'm telling you, either he's gonna get help from outside the team (through trades) or he's going to break down. Trust me.
about 1 month ago
Defensively miserable? Not last night, Golden State was ON THEIR GAME defensively. Sorry but that was just a GREAT win over a team who improved just about 100% recently by acquiring Jamal Crawford. The Heat did nothing but shock and amaze me yesterday and showed the league that they can score 130 points in a game! Pretty cool for a team everyone is hating on at the moment.....
about 1 month ago
This is how I know you're not paying attention to the stats.
Miami shot about 47% last night which is 2% above their normal average. They were +4 in the long range department. They also out rebounded Golden State 21-11 offensively and 51-36. Miami's average rebounding night is around 39. Then, Miami was +15 in fouls. And lastly, above all, the score was 129-130. They were literally scoring 30 points a quarter! So that means they were scoring 30 points in 12 minutes. Then in OT, which is 5 minutes, they scored 15 points! And Golden State only had eight blocks, five of which came from Ronny Turiaf who is an energetic spark off the bench on any team.
Dude, there was practically no defense in that game.
write a new comment