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Espn is a joke, ranking klove and freaking 34 year old Bryant over Wade. More fuel for his comeback I suppose.

Yeah, it's crazy.

Wade definitely is a Top 5 player imo.

My Top 5:

1. LeBron
2. Durant
3. CP3
4. Wade
5. Howard

But it's really difficult, cause for me, when at his best, Rose also can be a Top 5 player.

So they make you pay for NBA insider to see which players are in the Top 5? Wow wee, LET ME BUY THAT NOW FOR THOSE COLD HARD FACTS, I mean opinions.

Anyways... I'll rank Wade after the season is over. I stand behind saying this will be Wade's worst statistical season as a pro. I think Melo is in front of him at the moment and Westbrook as well.

Wade's my favorite player in the NBA... but I got to keep it real about him. My opinion will change if he did in fact improved his jump shot and if he stays healthy. But if he starts getting these knee injuries, and bricking shots at a high rate again (which pretty much affects our entire team play), then yeah Wade's in danger of falling off the Top 10.

svg said on the radio that the 5 best players in the nba were lebron, kd, kobe, wade and dwight. these are the guys that the coaches spend the most time preparing for.

Wade just needs to stay healthy. These silly polls mean nothing...we've seen what he can do even injured, and he carried us through the series vs. Indiana. He can be very effective, he just needs fewer minutes given his playing style. I almost would prefer him to take a Manu Ginobili 6th man role if it could help him with injuries. We have the depth to do it now.

Unofficial Wade Appreciation thread from here on out

(Not even all the clutch plays in these playoffs)

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CLefy75yeiE&feature=related[/youtube]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bQeP1Qya31M[/youtube]

It's strange to me how none of the players ranked above Wade (sans LBJ) do the little things Wade does that puts his team over the top.

But quite honestly, who cares what ESPN or the media thinks? This is why Media-voted awards don't hold weight and rings do.

Pat Riley has half a GMoY award and he shares it with Gar Foreman.

They also rated Love and Pau ahead of Bosh. It don't matter. Just as long as everyone can be healthy for the playoff run this season. PEACE.

After prematurely burying DWade in the Pacers series, I am never counting that dude out ever again. When he's right, he's the only player in the league who is near Lebron in terms of all-around play. CP3 is too, but CP3 is a midget.

For me the top five is:
Lebron
Wade
Durant
Dwight
CP3

In that order. If Durant gets to the point where OKC doesn't have to hide him on Mario Chalmers in big games defensively--he can pass Wade. But right now IMO no one has done enough to take Wade's 1B slot in the league.

Next season should be a good year for DWade. There won't be as many back to backs or back to back to backs. And he's had a summer to rest and rehab his knee. AND we have Ray Allen to work and keep his minutes down.

I love the way though that people say wade is done because he's 30--even as in the next breath they put Kobe in as a top 5 player. Kobe hasn't been better than Wade for awhile now. I don't get why at 35 he'd suddenly get better than Wade.

Pimpwerx wrote:They also rated Love and Pau ahead of Bosh. It don't matter. Just as long as everyone can be healthy for the playoff run this season. PEACE.

I think Love is better than Bosh. Pau isn't. But Love I think is a dark horse MVP candidate. He's a guy that could get into the top five discussion in the next year or two. I mean you can't say much about him if he is putting up 28/13 numbers out there, and if the Wolves become a playoff team. I mean that's basically Kevin Durant with better rebounding.

Melo ahead of Wade? Dude, turn in your Heat fan card. Even an unbiased party would laugh.

Love > Bosh > Pau, but the last two are close.

SmushedPennies wrote:Melo ahead of Wade? Dude, turn in your Heat fan card. Even an unbiased party would laugh.

Love > Bosh > Pau, but the last two are close.

Don't care what people think, Melo is a great all around player, hell some people rate Durant over him I think Melo is more a complete player than Durant.

And last year when Woodson took over Melo started playing solid to very good defense and grabbing rebounds as if he been a 4 all his career. If he keeps that motivation up there's no reason he shouldn't be considered a Top 5 player.

lol @ "turn in your Heat card" for having a different opinion.

Vertical Limit wrote:So they make you pay for NBA insider to see which players are in the Top 5? Wow wee, LET ME BUY THAT NOW FOR THOSE COLD HARD FACTS, I mean opinions.

Anyways... I'll rank Wade after the season is over. I stand behind saying this will be Wade's worst statistical season as a pro. I think Melo is in front of him at the moment and Westbrook as well.

Wade's my favorite player in the NBA... but I got to keep it real about him. My opinion will change if he did in fact improved his jump shot and if he stays healthy. But if he starts getting these knee injuries, and bricking shots at a high rate again (which pretty much affects our entire team play), then yeah Wade's in danger of falling off the Top 10.

Knicks fans wouldn't argue Melo ahead of Wade. 1st option Melo didn't produce more than 2nd option Wade

Vertical Limit wrote:

SmushedPennies wrote:Melo ahead of Wade? Dude, turn in your Heat fan card. Even an unbiased party would laugh.

Love > Bosh > Pau, but the last two are close.

Don't care what people think, Melo is a great all around player, hell some people rate Durant over him I think Melo is more a complete player than Durant.And last year when Woodson took over Melo started playing solid to very good defense and grabbing rebounds as if he been a 4 all his career. If he keeps that motivation up there's no reason he shouldn't be considered a Top 5 player.

lol @ "turn in your Heat card" for having a different opinion.

What the hell did I just read!?

Tell me other than scoring, which Melo can do as efficiently as Durant and as more moves than he does on the post, what does Durant do better than Melo? He doesn't rebound better than Melo, he doesn't play better defense than Melo. Melo can play the 2 guard, 3 and 4 positions. I hate the Knicks just as much as anyone but I'm not blind, Melo is a special player, a tier below Lebron.

rofl you guys are too much. First option Carmelo shot 28 PPG and grabbed 8 rebounds per game in the first round of the NBA Playoffs AGAINST OUR DEFENSE, which is a top defense. Not to mention he had an awesome month of April after struggling to produce under D'Antoni.

If he continues to be as good as his April and first round, he's better than Wade unless Wade returns to form.

Sorry, if that hurts the feelings of some people here, it hurt me to admit this past season that Lebron IS better than Wade. Wade's my favorite player in the NBA, but he needs to get away from his bubble and start focusing on basketball instead of books, fashion and other stupid ****. I wish he had as much dedication of being the best in the NBA as Lebron has, then Wade would have lived up to his Michael Jordan comparisons.

Wade must show consistent improvement on his jump shot, consistent durability health wise, and he needs to shoot better than a borderline 70% at the free throw line. I am sick and tired of him splitting the free throws. The guy used to be an 80% FT shooter and somehow he got Shaq hands this past season.

Also he needs to quit the fadeaway jumpers.

Dude I get that you think that Wade has regress in some areas in basketball but you can't fault him from having other hobbies than just basketball. Books and fashion are not stupid s*** to him.

Don't forget that Wade has worked on his post game, which is a significant way to extend your career as well.

@Vertical Limit - what you've just said is plain wrong.

1. Carmelo has never scored as many points as KD.
2. Carmelo has never scored as efficiently as KD.
3. Carmelo has never had as much offensive impact as KD

The rest of their games are as flawed as one another, neither are above average defensively, Melo is the better passer but also the one who is more likely to hold on to the ball for too long and stagnate the offensive flow.

I'm not bothered by stats but they don't lie either.

Durant peak PPG - 30.1
Melo peak PPG - 28.9

Durant career PPG - 26.3
Melo career PPG - 24.7

Durant peak TS% - 61%
Melo peak TS% - 56.8%

Durant career TS% - 58.2%
Melo career TS% - 54.4%

Durant peak TRB% - 11.8%
Melo peak TRB% - 11.8%

Durant career TRB% - 9.9%
Melo career TRB% - 10.0%

Durant peak ORtg - 118
Melo peak ORtg - 110

Durant career ORtg - 112
Melo career ORtg - 107

Durant peak DRtg - 101
Melo peak DRtg - 109

Durant career ORtg - 106
Melo career DRtg - 107

i don't even want to look at win shares.

As an offensive player, and an overall player, Durant is so far ahead of Melo it's not even an arguable case.

About the Melo vs Durant, we'll revisit this topic every month, on the All NBA thread we probably will have soon. I promise I will be the one to bring up the subject. I stand by that there is not much of a difference between the two, and Melo is the more complete player. If you think Melo is incapable of improving then you are dead wrong, I saw lots of improvement as far as defense, rebounding and playmaking ability goes in April and it carried on to the playoffs. Melo was arguably the second best player in the league in the month of April, behind Lebron of course.

Zasterror wrote:Dude I get that you think that Wade has regress in some areas in basketball but you can't fault him from having other hobbies than just basketball. Books and fashion are not stupid s*** to him.

Don't forget that Wade has worked on his post game, which is a significant way to extend your career as well.

Well that's what separates the legends from just great players. Wade could have been a far, far better player IMO had he stayed consistently focused on just basketball. He had all the talent and athletic ability to do so.

Let's be honest and nitpick this one issue I've always had, there have been moments in his career during the season where Wade's conditioning has been questioned, even by Riley himself. You don't ever hear about Kobe's, Lebron's, Durant's conditioning being questioned. Wade sometimes looks like he is begging for an oxygen tank.

Lebron, Kobe and others do their marketing thing too but they stay focused on the money maker, which is basketball.

and he shot fts better than Lebron last year fyi. And you're spewing a crock of **** about outside activities...just because Wade is on some tv a couple days out of the Summer doesn't mean somebody else is in the gym. It's not a zero sum game. When Lebron tweets about him and his buddies going out driving Porsches, I'm supposed to be upset because he's not a machine?

And Melo is great off 1 month? really?

So what was Wade in February when he had 25/5/4 on 56% shooting?

He played less minutes so his raw stats were down, so when he puts up 25/5/5 in 36 mpg this year, no he didn't improve, he just played his minutes. Might even get a little more

Like I've said, we will see going into this season. I think I made myself PRETTY clear if you read my previous posts on this thread that Wade could be better if he does a few things CONSISTENTLY, but if he continues to regress, then he's not better IMO. 80% of Wade's potential is not better than someone who is still in his prime.

Get mad all you want about my opinion, it is always a sensitive subject on this board when someone questions Wade. He's my favorite player in the NBA, said this three times already, but I'm not going to be biased. When Wade plays like **** and like he don't care/wants to be there, he takes the whole team play down with him. And he did that several times this past season which really frustrated me.

I'll be the first to admit I was wrong if Wade becomes a 25/5/5 on 47% FG player again. Hell I want that guy to be back.

Vertical Limit wrote:About the Melo vs Durant, we'll revisit this topic every month, on the All NBA thread we probably will have soon. I promise I will be the one to bring up the subject. I stand by that there is not much of a difference between the two, and Melo is the more complete player. If you think Melo is incapable of improving then you are dead wrong, I saw lots of improvement as far as defense, rebounding and playmaking ability goes in April and it carried on to the playoffs. Melo was arguably the second best player in the league in the month of April, behind Lebron of course.

Zasterror wrote:Dude I get that you think that Wade has regress in some areas in basketball but you can't fault him from having other hobbies than just basketball. Books and fashion are not stupid s*** to him.

Don't forget that Wade has worked on his post game, which is a significant way to extend your career as well.

Well that's what separates the legends from just great players. Wade could have been a far, far better player IMO had he stayed consistently focused on just basketball. He had all the talent and athletic ability to do so.

Let's be honest and nitpick this one issue I've always had, there have been moments in his career during the season where Wade's conditioning has been questioned, even by Riley himself. You don't ever hear about Kobe's, Lebron's, Durant's conditioning being questioned. Wade sometimes looks like he is begging for an oxygen tank.

Lebron, Kobe and others do their marketing thing too but they stay focused on the money maker, which is basketball.

I get what you are saying but not hearing players like Kobe/Durant/LeBron about their conditioning is besides the point. You cannot measure someone's status such as great and legendary just by their basketball talents. Wade is looking to be one of the few players in the league to be considered legendary on the court and very notable outside of the court. Even Jordan was criticized for not focusing on basketball all the time and it came to a breaking point when he decided to take off a season just to play freakin' baseball.

Everyone knows that Wade stays in fantastic shape and yes there are moments when he is "overweight" (by the rigorous Pat Riley standard) but despite it all he is still one of the most productive players in the league, bar none. I would never ever question's Wade desire of the game mainly because of what he went through ever since he came to the league: people doubting his overall ability, overshadowed by his peers, injuries woes, etc. Wade has always manage to bounce back even when we, his own fans, questioned him. Wade's resiliency is one of the most redeeming qualities on any player I have ever witnessed in the NBA.

It's funny we can talk all we want about how we miss the old Wade and that he is regressing but we sometimes neglect to mention that he is 2-time NBA champion now.