How many minutes will Wade average by the end of the year?

[TheAnkh]

If we keep up this level of play and Spo keeps steadfast to his rotations, how many minutes a game will Wade average? Over or under 30 min?

[mopper8]

His minutes will go up in closer games and against better teams, but I kinda like him when he can play a little more balls-to-the-wall, all-out, in shorter bursts. Kinda like how he was in the Olympics, though obviously more minutes/bigger role. Still, same idea.

[DefenseWins]

Depends on the season. Past 4 games have yet to be close. I think 33 because the schedule can't remain easy forever.

[HeatFanSince87]

His minutes will go up in closer games and against better teams, but I kinda like him when he can play a little more balls-to-the-wall, all-out, in shorter bursts. Kinda like how he was in the Olympics, though obviously more minutes/bigger role. Still, same idea.

[TheAnkh]

His minutes will go up in closer games and against better teams, but I kinda like him when he can play a little more balls-to-the-wall, all-out, in shorter bursts. Kinda like how he was in the Olympics, though obviously more minutes/bigger role. Still, same idea.

Really? I don't like it. At all actually. We're going to undoubtly need him to play more than 25 minutes a game come playoff time and these, basically bench player minutes he's currently getting set a bad precedent. Everyone talks about being afraid of injuries for Wade (which I feel is valid, but being taken to an very extreme sense at this point), but you're probably more likely to hurt something when asked to go harder or longer than you're used to. Besides that, just off of gp I feel it is nonsensical to "rest" a star player who is only 30 years old for 10 minutes straight every game.

I think micromanaging Wade's minutes to this degree and then trying to hit him with heavy minutes come playoff time that he hasn't been getting for a long while sets him up to be easily gassed and more likely to be inefficient.

[TheAnkh]

As an added note, I also don't like the allocation of minutes Spoelstra is giving LeBron (too many) or Bosh (wrong timing) either, but that's another story I suppose. Just want to know if people think Wade will be over/under 30 min a game to end the season.

[mopper8]

Meh, its really not a big deal to increase a guy's minutes a couple here or there, which is all that will be necessary. I mean, Wade played 16 minutes in the first half...were it a closer game, he probably plays 17-18 in the 2nd half, and that's 33-34 minutes. To push that to 37-38 in the playoffs won't be hard at all.

And "25 minutes a game" is a big time exaggeration. The only reason he's not playing longer minutes is because of blowouts. Lebron played 33 tonight and people in the game thread were complaining that he was playing too many minutes.

[mopper8]

Dude, of course he'll be over 30 minutes, unless we are winning every game by 20. I mean, find me 1 game he's played fewer than 30 minutes, where we weren't up 20+ in the fourth. You can't, because it hasn't happened...

[SweetTouch]

notsureifsrs at this thread

I'm sure he will play big minutes if it's a close game. If not SPO would get fired

[mopper8]

Here are Wade's minutes in the 6 games prior to the back-to-back-to-back blowouts:

31:16
35:37
35:08
33:36
32:56
36:48

Does that seem like a guy who's going to play under 30mpg? C'mon, you're better than that

[TheAnkh]

Meh, its really not a big deal to increase a guy's minutes a couple here or there, which is all that will be necessary. I mean, Wade played 16 minutes in the first half...were it a closer game, he probably plays 17-18 in the 2nd half, and that's 33-34 minutes. To push that to 37-38 in the playoffs won't be hard at all.

And "25 minutes a game" is a big time exaggeration. The only reason he's not playing longer minutes is because of blowouts. Lebron played 33 tonight and people in the game thread were complaining that he was playing too many minutes.

You're exerting far more energy in a playoff game than a regular season game, so even 33 minutes now is not the same as 33 minutes in May. I'm not saying that Wade will drop to 25 minutes a game on the season, but with the way Spo plays him I don't think it all that out of the picture that he ends up with 30 or even slightly less.

And I agree with people saying LeBron is getting too many minutes. He is. Also I think Bosh is getting around the right amount (maybe could use a few less) but at the wrong times, because I don't think he should be out there without Wade or LeBron. Spo's rotations last year were much better imo, didn't overwork LeBron, didn't treat Wade like glass, and didn't have Bosh out there by himself.

[mopper8]

Dude, Lebron is playing a career low in minutes/game, and the only other season that's even close was when he was 24. C'mon, he's playing too much?

And see my last post about the over-reaction about Wade's minutes...

[TheAnkh]

Tying it to it being a blowout is overlooking the issue, because other player's minutes don't decrease to that extent in blowouts. LeBron averages about 36 minutes a game this season. Tonight, in a blowout, he played 33 minutes, 3 less than usual. Wade averages right now around 33 minutes a game. Tonight, in a blowout, he played 24 minutes, 9 less than usual.

With trends like this, its not impossible for him to drop further off the map in minutes played.

[mopper8]

Tying it to it being a blowout is overlooking the issue, because other player's minutes don't decrease to that extent in blowouts. LeBron averages about 36 minutes a game this season. Tonight, in a blowout, he played 33 minutes, 3 less than usual. Wade averages right now around 33 minutes a game. Tonight, in a blowout, he played 24 minutes, 9 less than usual.

That's because Wade gets a big proportion of his minutes in the fourth than Lebron does, and so he gets a longer rest when they sit out the fourth. If he plays his standard 9-10 minutes in the fourth, that's 33-34 mpg. Pretty normal. And btw up till tonight Lebron averaged 37.1 mpg

With trends like this, its not impossible for him to drop further off the map in minutes played.

Winning every game by 20+?

[orangeparka]

Probably 30~33mpg.

[TheAnkh]

Tying it to it being a blowout is overlooking the issue, because other player's minutes don't decrease to that extent in blowouts. LeBron averages about 36 minutes a game this season. Tonight, in a blowout, he played 33 minutes, 3 less than usual. Wade averages right now around 33 minutes a game. Tonight, in a blowout, he played 24 minutes, 9 less than usual.

With trends like this, its not impossible for him to drop further off the map in minutes played.

[mopper8]

I'm just going to re-quote this since you never really acknowledged it

Here are Wade's minutes in the 6 games prior to the back-to-back-to-back blowouts:

31:16
35:37
35:08
33:36
32:56
36:48

Does that seem like a guy who's going to play under 30mpg? C'mon, you're better than that

[TheAnkh]

I'm just going to re-quote this since you never really acknowledged it

Here are Wade's minutes in the 6 games prior to the back-to-back-to-back blowouts:

31:16
35:37
35:08
33:36
32:56
36:48

Does that seem like a guy who's going to play under 30mpg? C'mon, you're better than that

There's nothing to acknowledge. I never said that omg Wade has never played over 30 minutes a game this season, I said he is playing too few and in bad timing.

[TheAnkh]

And its funny you make it seem like winning by large amounts is impossible for the rest of the season. We have about 20 more games on the schedule where its more likely for it to be a blowout than a nailbiter, and if Wade averages this kind of playing time in them, his minutes per game can very well fall even further.

[Pimpwerx]

Whatever he averages, I hope it's well below his career average. You know what? With all the snubs for awards and accolades he's endured through his career, Wade's legacy will be defined by championships. As long as he can give 40 minutes of Playoff Wade per night in the playoffs, that's all that matters. PEACE.