For those who forgot or were unaware, Wade led his team to 2 games away from the Ecf as a rookie. Peep how Breen and Bill are talking about him. He was special since day 1. After such a glorious run it was Shaq that decided to join Wade not the other way around. As he saw a guy who he knew would be the one to help and ultimately lead him him to his 4th ring. After 06, Wade wins one and is league wide perceived as the best player in the league averaging 30ppg 5apg 8rpg on 50% shooting. No one is replicating these numbers and then unfortunately suffers the shoulder injury induced by Battier. Fast forward the recovery of injury and he’s his dominant self. Once again it was Bosh and LeBron who joined Wade because they knew that by joining him their chances of winning a title would be greatly increased. Not the other way around.
Check 2016, Wade was well passed his prime and was a game/ bs Lowry shot away from punching his ticket to the ECF without his 2 best players in Bosh and Whiteside (who got injured in game 2).
When we revisit his 1st round exists we need to implement context. Spo was a rookie head coach and the Heat was comprised of several rookie and 2nd players in the lineup featurimg Beasley, Chalmers, Cook, Quinn etc. In 09 series Wade took a far more talented Hawks squad to 7 games. Thats despite 2 key players in Jermaine Oneal and Jamario Moon being injured game 6 and game 7. So not only were the hawks more talented but Wade was missing 2 of his best players.
’10 Wade single handedly wins a game against the the ECF Champs. This time Wade had Jermaine but people forget how historically poor shooting he was https://www.basketball-reference.com/playoffs/2010-nba-eastern-conference-first-round-heat-vs-celtics.html
Jermaine shot 20% from the field, the worst for a player with his amount of FGAs up until that point. I don’t care if you’re a mix of Wilt, mj, Bron, Shaq, you’re not winning any series with your 2nd best player avg that piss poor from the field.
’11 Lebron chokes and costs Wade his 2FMVP and heats 4th title.
So I say all that to say, Wade was HIM since day 1. His teammates knew but for whatever reason he routinely gets disrespected and underappreciated. Rarely did Wade have a “what’s going on with him” meltdown series whilst in his prime. You give Wade a formidable cast and he’s guaranteed a long playoff run at worst and a title. Even in 05 I strongly believe Heat win the whole thing if Wade doesn’t suffer that rib injury. Thus all these media pundits and scrubs like Teague can suck a dk. D-Wade is the GOAT, definitely top 10 ever if he decides not to remove his meniscus. /endrant
by SeniorAd7061
5 Comments
Those idiots are casual basketball fans with a bad understanding of those Heat teams. Shaq was well past his prime in Miami and Wade was clearly the #1 guy for those playoff runs in ‘05 and ‘06. From 2007 to 2010 Wade never had a good and healthy roster to work with, yet still got us to the playoffs in all 3 years he was healthy (almost beat ATL practically by himself in ‘09.) Considering the injuries on those teams I would argue those rosters were straight up bad. And like you said, in 2016 he almost willed us to the ECF in his mid-30’s with a mediocre roster as well.
Wade just needed a little bit of help- just like any elite player.
LeBron even admitted we didn’t win when Wade didn’t play well.
LoL we still had coles running point. Dwayne dragged that team along with him.
Wade came and helped this franchise right away. Got the team out of the first round his rookie year and was already Better than all of his veteran teammates at that point
The funny thing is no one mentions that LeBron did not win anything the first 8-9 years of his career, UNTIL he joined Wade. The narrative against Wade is hilarious when people use the shaq LeBron point