How Good Was Dwyane Wade Actually?

dwyane wade is a three-time nba champion a finals mvp and a 13-time all-star what made him special where does he rank among the all-time best and how good was wade actually road to the nba some of the best and toughest nba players ever came from south side chicago where murder and violence are an everyday occurrence but of all of them d wade had the toughest road to the nba growing up in one of the most violent and dangerous parts of the world even his home wasn't safe dwayne's mother was a heroin addict and rarely spent time with her son when she was at home she was hanging out with drug dealers young dwayne was traumatized when police broke into their house and arrested his mom then one day his older sister made a move that probably saved dwayne's life she told him they were going to the movies but she actually took him to their father who lived with his new family in the chicago suburbs there the small stature dwayne started playing basketball with his stepbrothers he was usually the smallest player on every court but wade was always the fastest when he eventually sprouted to six foot four in shoes with a freakishly long six foot eleven wingspan and explosive rocket fuel in his bounce he became a nightmare for the opposing guards athletic and super quick we'd averaged 27 points and 11 rebounds as a high school senior earning himself a scholarship from marquette university as a sophomore wade led marquette in scoring and was the best ball thief in the entire conference however his best was yet to come in his junior season weight averaged 21. 5 points and played stellar defense leading marquette to success they haven't reached in 25 years in the elite eight marquette was a heavy underdog against the title favorite kentucky who won consecutive 26 games but they didn't have weight whose drives to the basket were unstoppable he dominated with 29 points 11 rebounds 11 assists and four blocked shots in the biggest upset of the season d-wade became a national sensation overnight but when marquette lost by 40 in the final four some nba scouts feared that his game against kentucky was a fluke but the old fox pat riley knew better and in the famous 2003 nba draft the miami heat selected wade with the fifth overall pick immediate super stardom even though he was shorter than most players at his position and wasn't a good outside shooter wade quickly established himself as one of the best shooting guards in the nba wade was strong quick and athletic in a killer first step in superb handles he could keep the ball on a string dance around opposing defenders and drive to the basket whenever he wanted he averaged 16 points four rebounds and four and a half assists and finished third in the rookie of the year voting behind lebron and carmella wade helped the heat make the playoffs for the first time in three years where he gave a taste of the clutch killer he was in his playoff debut against the hornets d-wade beautifully crossed over baron davis and made a tough floater for the win and even though the heat lost in the second round wade averaged over 20 points in the playoffs as a rookie and one big free agent saw that something good was cooking in miami after a messy divorce with kobe bryant shaquille o'neal left the lakers and joined the miami heat to compete alongside dwyane wade in his sophomore year wade averaged 24 points and seven assists in the regular season despite shaq's arrival d-wade was the best player on the heat and was named to his first all-star team due to his otherworldly quickness and fast twitch athleticism shaq gave him the nickname flash with shaq in the middle and d-wade's unstoppable drives to the basket the heat won 59 games in the season to secure the number one seed in the conference finals against detroit wade played spectacularly averaging 27 points per game and leading the heat to a 3-2 advantage in the series unfortunately he got injured and missed game 6. he returned for game 7 but he clearly wasn't at 100 and the pistons won the series come 2006 wade improved his numbers in every category averaging 27 points six boards seven assists and two steals per game in the conference finals miami avenged the loss to the pistons wade played the best basketball of his career leading all scorers with 26 points per game shooting an unbelievable 62 from the field in the series however in the finals against the mavs things couldn't look worse for the heat they lost the first two games and trailed by 13 with six minutes to go in game three and even though he was the youngest player on the heat dwayne said to his teammates i ain't going down like this wade then went on a scoring tear scoring 12 of the final 20 miami points forcing a miraculous turnaround the heat won in overtime and d-wade finished with 42 points and 13 rebounds game 4 was a blowout and wade led miami to victory with 36 points in game 5 miami was trailing by 2 with 10 seconds to go wade took things into his own hands and made the clutch basket to send the game to overtime in ot the mavs led in the final seconds and it again seemed like the heat would lose but then wade somehow split three defenders and made a drive to the basket until he got fouled he calmly hit both free throws with two seconds remaining to give the heat a one point lead and the victory in game six the flash was cooking again he was nailing jumpers blocking shots and doing whatever it took to win the heat ultimately prevailed and won the championship with wade as the finals mvp he averaged 34.

7 points eight rebounds four assists and nearly three steals per game it was complete domination on both ends of the floor in one of the slowest paced finals ever and his 34. 7 points per game or even greater if you know that the heat averaged just 92 points in the series at the time wade's 33. 8 player efficiency rating was the best ever mark in the finals injuries and poor rosters just one season after they won the title miami heat fell apart wade suffered through knee and shoulder injuries the veteran core around him deteriorated and the heat got swept in the first round of the playoffs the 2008 season was even worse shaq was constantly fighting with pat riley until he got traded mid-season wade missed 30 games because of persistent knee problems and miami finished with the worst record in the nba after the season wade joined team usa for the 2008 olympic game despite sharing the floor with kobe lebron chris paul carmelo and many other superstars it was wade who led the redeemed team in scoring bringing home the olympic goal for the 2009 season wade was fully healthy and he showed everybody why healthy dwyane wade is one of the most dangerous basketball players on the planet nobody could stop him in transition and his drives to the basket were a mix of speed and power we have never seen in a player at his size just ask for anderson berger who suffered the wrath of wade in one of the worst posterizations in nba history even his jumper was falling at the best rate of his career and d-wade finished the season as the top scorer in the nba with 30.

2 points per game he also had seven and a half assists 1. 3 blocks and 2. 2 steals and should have been named the mvp if only the heat had a better roster the next season wade continued to dominate and was named the all-star game mvp however the heat was still mediocre and they lost in the first round again the decision pat riley threw his championship rings on the negotiating team in front of lebron and chris bosh but they ultimately decided to join the heat because they were good friends with dwyane wade and lebron declared that he was going to take his talents to south beach miami heat became the number one title contender the biggest nba villains and the only topic of any sports media however the heat had a rough start with a 9-8 record and the infamous lebron james shoulder bumped to a young coach eric spoelstra but as the season progressed miami improved lebron and weight averaged over 25 points per game and their full-court law passes and dunks or must-see tv it seemed like everything was going according to plan and that the heat would win not one not two not three championships as lebron famously proclaimed but dirk nowitzki and the mavs had other plans even though the heat led 2-1 in the series and had a big lead in the fourth quarter of game four novitskiy played spectacularly and stole game fool mother effort do something don't just stand there wade unapologetically said to james during a timeout late in game five but lebron was extremely passive he couldn't buy a jump shot and the heat lost the finals blade did his part averaging a series leading 26.

5 points per game on phenomenal 55 shooting along with 7. 5 rebounds five assists and nearly two blocks and steals per game before the next season wade had a meeting with lebron and told him that the heat should be lebron's team and that he should be the number one option even though he was already a champion in the finals mvp and even though he outplayed lebron in the 2011 finals wade was humble enough to give the keys to the team to lebron it was a smart move lebron improved significantly after the finals loss and the heat completely transformed their defensive and offensive strategy playing lebron as a point forward with four shooters around however the heat's title chances looked bleak after chris bosh got injured in the conference semifinals losing 2-1 in the series and with wade having his knee drain but like a true champion wade bounced back and played through injury he scored 30 points in game four and was even better in the clinching game six going for 41 points and 10 rebounds in the conference finals the heat were again staring at the abyss of another playoff loss going down three to two to the celtics but then lebron played the best game of his career and forced a game seven after which miami clinched a spot in another nba finals against the young okc team in the finals miami's experience prevailed wade was the perfect robin to lebron's batman averaging 23 points five rebounds and six assists in a 4-1 series win next year the heat reached their full potential adding ray allen and richard lewis to stretch the floor and moving chris bosh to the center position permanently miami won a franchise record 66 games including 27 games in a row even though the pacers gave them a lot of trouble in the conference finals miami won the series in 7 and made a third consecutive trip to the nba finals but despite being favorites the heat were once again on the brink of elimination they were losing 3-2 in the series and were trailing by double digits in the fourth quarter of game six the nba staff had already started preparing for the spurs celebration but lebron brought the heat within distance ray allen's three in the final seconds tied the game in what was arguably the biggest shot in nba history the heat prevailed in overtime and won game six and then did the same in game seven even though he had clearly lost half a step and we could see a decline in his athleticism wade still averaged 20 points five rebounds and five assists in the finals however in 2014 despite losing just three playoff games on the way to the finals the spurs were just too good and they defeated the heat in five and won the nba title even though lebron played the best and most efficient ball of his career wade struggled mightily averaging just 15 points in the finals final years after the loss in the 2014 finals lebron decided to ditch the aging wave and go home to cleveland without james in the lineup wade was still good enough to make the all-star team but he and bosh weren't healthy enough to make a significant push in the playoffs in 2016 wade was a free agent and he stopped talking to heap president pat riley over a contract dispute wade bolted for chicago to play for his hometown bulls he averaged 18 points per game at the age of 35.