Look back to 2011 ECF Dwyane Wade... when refs called fouls

[WD]

I cut Wade all the slack in the world for playing injured and give him a ton of credit for it.

HOWEVER,

what pisses me off about his play is that he's turning down open J's. He gets the ball with a ton of room to shoot, waits for his defender to close in, gives a pump fake, and even if he gets the defender in the air, he doesn't initiate the contact to draw a foul. He takes 1-2 (slow) dribbles to the basket and then changes his mind and throws a bad/mediocre pass, losses the ball or puts up an awkward shot.

This creates a ton of problems for Miami's spacing. I want him to shoot it when he's open at mid-range. That's not the most efficient shot in basketball, but it's better than a turnover.


And if there's one thing he should have improved during the summers, it's a 3p shot.
Wade was the best player in the world in 2005 and 2006 and then about equal to Lebron till 2010-11.

Had Wade added a 3p shot to his game, it'd be so much easier for him to get shots, to score, and Miami's spacing would be phenomenal.

But since he hasn't done it for 10 years, I doubt he'll do it now.
Although that would probably add 1-2 years to his career and improve his effectiveness A LOT.

I would like him to take all the criticism from everybody and use it as motivation this summer to work on nothing else but his 3p shot, so he comes back next season shooting like he stole Kyle Korver's soul.
Get the ball behind the 3p line and have an open shot ? LET IT FLY !!!!
No pump fakes, no hesitation, nothing. Just LET IT FLY !!!
If Ray Allen can help Lebron on his FT's, maybe he can also help Wade on his 3's.

You have some good points. I have all the faith in the world in Wade but my biggest problem with him right now is he has completely lost his confidence. He constantly passes up open shots, pump fakes way too much. I would rather see him assert himself with confidence and miss shots then constantly pass up shots. It absolutely hurts our spacing.

How about reducing the expectation/adjusting his role/etc., I am convinced he's out there as a decoy or threat. I cannot in good conscious believe anything else.

[fast-break]

What players have actually become better and less injury prone with age in their 30's? I just don't know of any.

Refining his game/role would be the way to go.

[WD]

What players have actually become better and less injury prone with age in their 30's? I just don't know of any.

Refining his game/role would be the way to go.

+1

[WhatRickyThinks]

Lol@once he's healthy.

[truthiness]

How about reducing the expectation/adjusting his role/etc., I am convinced he's out there as a decoy or threat. I cannot in good conscious believe anything else.

He's still a superstar. He's also paid like one (even if he did give up a whole bunch of money). With him turning into a role player - and I am speaking for next season - the Heat will turn from very good to pretty good.

So I don't think I am asking for too much from him to get a 3p shot. I am sure he can do it, if he decides to do it.

As for during this playoff him being a decoy .... that only works if he scores from time to time. If he keeps hesitating and turning down open shots, opposing teams will start/continue to ignore him.

[Zasterror]

My problem with Wade is that he is not asserting himself offensively. He is not even trying to score anymore. That pains me more than anything else because he is the greatest and most entertaining scorer I've seen since MJ.

[Zasterror]

Another thing: Wade's jumper is greatly affected by his knees. If his knees aren't healthy, his jumper is broke. Also, him not having any confidence in it anymore doesn't help either.

[GameTime_3]

To me, Wade plays with to much size. Every year he gets a bit better and I think it holds him back and actually puts more strain on his knees. Kobe did a great job of keeping his body weigh low to put less pressure on his legs and knees.

As far as Wade's play. I agree that some of his aggression has been taken away due to injury but that doesn't mean he can be careless with the ball & take bad shots. Wade this past game was stripped on a few plays that we ran to him that had nothing to do with injury's. He just tried to make the fancy pass and got it taken from him. And like several people have stated, when he plays bad, he begins to force the ball and take a few dumb shots. One thing I'll credit Wade with is his D.

[EscapoTHB]

You don't even have to go back that far. During our 27 game win streak, I thought Wade played as good as Lebron. He was that good. Even though the knee injury he has this year is less serious than last year--it seems like it's impact to his game is much worse. Last year after he got the knee drained he was old Wade. You can't do that with his knees this year.

How long does a bone bruise like that take with the knees? We've been told rest doesn't help it at all. So it's just a time thing?

And yeah this summer will be hugely important to Wade's legacy as a player. He needs to become at least as automatic as Ginobilli with his 3 point shot. That would make him so much more useful as a player offensively, even as his athleticism goes.

He should be able to use his strength more in going to the rim like how Paul Pierce does.

I also think this series a big problem for Wade has been that usually he would just post up with these knee problems--but Stevenson and George are both bigger than him, so he can't post. And he lacks the quickness to get around either of them.

If we get to the next round I wonder if Pop will put Leonard on him instead of Lebron, just so wade has the same problems.

We're a much easier team to play with when Wade plays like a 10ppg player rather than 25ppg one.

I also think next year Spo has to really think about featuring Bosh more in the offense. Bosh should be the second option on offense, not Wade.

[EscapoTHB]

All that said--Wade is having a good impact on the team still. His work defensively in this series has been really underrated, and is a big reason why we still need him out there even though he's a shadow of himself right now.

[seminoles1993]

I cut Wade all the slack in the world for playing injured and give him a ton of credit for it.

HOWEVER,

what pisses me off about his play is that he's turning down open J's. He gets the ball with a ton of room to shoot, waits for his defender to close in, gives a pump fake, and even if he gets the defender in the air, he doesn't initiate the contact to draw a foul. He takes 1-2 (slow) dribbles to the basket and then changes his mind and throws a bad/mediocre pass, losses the ball or puts up an awkward shot.

This creates a ton of problems for Miami's spacing. I want him to shoot it when he's open at mid-range. That's not the most efficient shot in basketball, but it's better than a turnover.


And if there's one thing he should have improved during the summers, it's a 3p shot.
Wade was the best player in the world in 2005 and 2006 and then about equal to Lebron till 2010-11.

Had Wade added a 3p shot to his game, it'd be so much easier for him to get shots, to score, and Miami's spacing would be phenomenal.

But since he hasn't done it for 10 years, I doubt he'll do it now.
Although that would probably add 1-2 years to his career and improve his effectiveness A LOT.

I would like him to take all the criticism from everybody and use it as motivation this summer to work on nothing else but his 3p shot, so he comes back next season shooting like he stole Kyle Korver's soul.
Get the ball behind the 3p line and have an open shot ? LET IT FLY !!!!
No pump fakes, no hesitation, nothing. Just LET IT FLY !!!
If Ray Allen can help Lebron on his FT's, maybe he can also help Wade on his 3's.

Great points. I agree with what you said about him hesitating take a jumpshot even if he is in an island by himself. He pumps fake way too much some times. He's gotta realize that if youre open and have a Mid range J you HAVE to shoot that without hesitancy.

[jona187]

His shot has been impacted by this injury, but it goes to show you that your physical gifts will leave you first before your skills do. He has also had a flat shot and never really developed any arch in his shot. He relies too much on his jump to get his shot going. He needs to tweak his shot in the future if he continues having knee issues.

Passing up open jumpshots shows you he has no confidence in it. After one miss, he completely disregards it. In turn he tries to do too much when he shouldnt with his dribbling. I have a bigger problem with his passing so far. You don't need knees to pass a ball correctly. So many turnovers with lazy passes bother me. He should also look to work on his ball handling, in terms of just control and not fancy moves.

[Chessboxer]

I really hope he trains with Tim Grover this summer. Tim Grover has a book coming out and I was reading interviews with him prior to its release.

According to Grover, Wade has preferred to stay in Miami because he likes training with Lebron. Clearly this is not optimal for Wade and I believe MUST go back to Grover. Think about it, when last did Wade look himself? Its was the '10-'11 season the first season of the big 3 and that was a season many said Wade looked even more athletic than Lebron. Wade trained the whole summer with Grover that year.

He hasn't trained with him since until he brought him during the 2012 Finals.

Grovers' training regimen revolves not only around explosiveness but also around injury prevention by strengthening the joints. Its the perfect approach to Wade's game. Wades best years of his career (eg:09/10, 05/06, 10/11) were spent training with him. I even remember the 09/10 season he came into camp out of shape (custody battle) Riley brought Grover in and Wade tore through the rest of the season. Pretty much all of Wades' seasons where he has has consistent health he trained with Grover.

I just hope Wade just wakes up and goes back to the guy who has powers to cultivate his nigh celestial abilities . I know the monster still lurks inside that #3 jersey, its' there. It just needs to be cultivated the right way.

[DWadeno3]

I really hope he trains with Tim Grover this summer. Tim Grover has a book coming out and I was reading interviews with him prior to its release.

According to Grover, Wade has preferred to stay in Miami because he likes training with Lebron. Clearly this is not optimal for Wade and I believe MUST go back to Grover. Think about it, when last did Wade look himself? Its was the '10-'11 season the first season of the big 3 and that was a season many said Wade looked even more athletic than Lebron. Wade trained the whole summer with Grover that year.

He hasn't trained with him since until he brought him during the 2012 Finals.

Grovers' training regimen revolves not only around explosiveness but also around injury prevention by strengthening the joints. Its the perfect approach to Wade's game. Wades best years of his career (eg:09/10, 05/06, 10/11) were spent training with him. I even remember the 09/10 season he came into camp out of shape (custody battle) Riley brought Grover in and Wade tore through the rest of the season. Pretty much all of Wades' seasons where he has has consistent health he trained with Grover.

I just hope Wade just wakes up and goes back to the guy who has powers to cultivate his nigh celestial abilities . I know the monster still lurks inside that #3 jersey, its' there. It just needs to be cultivated the right way.

+1. If Wade doesn't do it himself, Riley should force him to work with Grover, hell pay extra bucks just to fly him down to Miami if that's the problem. Grover has more experience with basketball players in the mold of Wade (see Bryant or Jordan) than any other personal trainer.