Is Dwayne Wade overrated???

[Intensity]

Wade only had real success when he had Shaq drawing double teams allowing him open lanes to take advantage of. Back then he was still tough enough to wrecklessly drive in the paint and take hard hits and make a miracle shot or get the star treatment call and convert two free throws. It's obvious now that his body can't take that type of play anymore and he hasn't added a legit shot to his game to help his cause. In his early years he could just put his head down and drive, but now he can't do that as effectively as he used too. He had an above average team and lead them to single digit wins when he was playing. And that's in the EAST. He is about one injury away of being this generation's Grant Hill. Is he now overrated? Even if healthy he wouldn't start on the olympic team as his game is a horrible match for international play. It's kind of sad but who would you choose to start a team over wade? I would pick these players over him. Iggy, Tmac, Joe Johnson, Brandon Roy, Manu, David West, JAson Terry, Mo williams, Stephen Jackson, Monta ellis. Just to name a few.

[blkout]

You'd take Jason Terry, Mo Williams and Stephen Jackson over Dwyane Wade? Wade is probably the guy in the NBA I dislike the most, but what the f*ck?

[CB4MiamiHeat]

overrated means rated too highly..considering hes not even spoken about or even brought up at all anymore..i find it hard to believe that hes overrated.

I dont understand the myth that Shaq open up lanes..how does a 300 pound guy that plays 5 feet to the basket and gets so much attention open up lanes?...if anything he clogs up the lane. Wades, individually, is better without Shaq..Wade benefits more from having shooters like Kapono and Posey..as evident in 07 when he was putting up 28-8-5-50% without Shaq.

[Idunkon1stdates]

Dwyane Wade is overrated. Michael Jordan wearing a Dwyane Wade costume during the 2006 NBA Finals is not overrated.

[Chubby Chaser]

Shaq opens up lanes because when someone drives to the lane the helper is reluctant to leave Shaq to challenge the shot because he knows the weak side defender is rendered helpless to try and block shaq when he's that close to the baskets. Also, when shaq has the ball in the post lanes open up for cutters due to the double teams he gets or drawing sagging defenders.

I do agree with the OP that wade is one injury away from being this generations Grant Hill though. He has to add a reliable shot to his game to be effective again. If Amare can do it, I'm sure that wade could. If not , the way he plays. He's going to get injured a lot more. Wade's situation kind of brings a lot more respect to Allen Iverson. Who plays the same way wade does when he drives the paint and gets knocked around and banged up. But Iverson hasn't really had any serious injuries or surgeries. Pretty tough guy if you tell me.

[Rox_Nix_Nox]

Now I'll be honest I don't watch any heat games other than when they play the Lakers but to me he hasent added to his game. How old is he now? His jumpshot is still yet to be found and his 3 point shooting is really bad. To me the only thing he's good at is driving to the basket and getting to the free-throw line. But that's just my opinion..

[Rasheeed!!!]

atm Wade is injured....

when he's healthy he's amazing....and he's got a great mid range shot. He didn't just waltz into the lane for layups, he consistently made amazing jump shots.

[Jemini80]

Wade is 26, and has big injury concerns. Miami would be wise to ride him into the ground as long as his contract lasts, and then let a stupid team sign him to a max deal when he is 29. I don't feel he has improved much, but that could be because he needs to spend more time rehabbing than developing new skills. That NBA Finals series was just pure greatness though, and I will always love him for making sure that Dirk the fake big man will never win an NBA championship.

I think he gets belittled and bashed so much here that he is actually underrated now along with Gilbert Arenas. Do i think he is better than Arenas? No, but both are very good players, Wade is a 3rd tier star along with the likes of Vince Carter, Marion, Dirk, Pierce, Butler, etc... While Arenas is a 2nd tier player with Nash, TMac, Boozer, etc...


The TOs scare the crap out of me though, and I would like if he could become more effective as an off-ball player. I think the best thing for him would be to get Beasley since he would have a post player to draw attention, two dominant rebounders in Beasley and Marion, and a good midrange shooter in marion to kick it out to when he drives. I think if the Heat get Rose/Mayo that it will be counter-effective to Wade as a player since Rose needs the ball in his hands also, and both players play the same way.

Wade is a very good player, he is not great, and not worth a max contract, but i wouldn't say he is overrated. I would say he is rated correctly now, or bashed too much. But people can never take away the 2006 Finals from him when he was the best player on the planet for that stretch. Just like people can never take away from Lebron what he did in the Conference finals last year.

[CzBoobie]

I would pick these players over him. Iggy, Tmac, Joe Johnson, Brandon Roy, Manu, David West, JAson Terry, Mo williams, Stephen Jackson, Monta ellis. Just to name a few.

None of those guys is better than healthy Wade and half of them aren't better than Wade on one leg and with one arm...

[Number34]

No chance, if fact he is very underrated on realgm. The guy, when healthy is top five in the nba. Oh and saying that the heats lineup was above average is just strange. it was crap. Injuries just added to the problem

[jourdy]

I think he gets belittled and bashed so much here that he is actually underrated now along with Gilbert Arenas. Do i think he is better than Arenas? No, but both are very good players, Wade is a 3rd tier star along with the likes of Vince Carter, Marion, Dirk, Pierce, Butler, etc... While Arenas is a 2nd tier player with Nash, TMac, Boozer, etc...

Wade and Dirk 3rd tier star? And yet Arenas and Tmac 2nd?
Your hate has made you blind. Wade or Dirk has accomplished more than Tmac and Arenas combined.

Dirk was phenomenal his whole career aside from the Heat and Golden State series, and I put the blame on Avery for that for failing to make adjustments. The Mavs have had 8 straight seasons with 50+ wins, thanks largely due to him. Not winning the ring doesn't negate that fact.

Wade may have gotten the most game-changing calls in a Finals series, but he carried that Heat team on his shoulders. He is one of the best finishers in the game, and his ability to blow by defenders to get into the lane is something I haven't seen since Jordan.


As for the topic, he's actually underrated now. Dwyane is still a great player, yet when people talk about him, it's like they're talking about Marbury.

[JordansBulls]

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/playoffs2 ... id=2493667

How many guys have done that.

Four consecutive 35+ point games
NBA Finals
Year Player Team
2006 Dwyane Wade Miami
1993 Michael Jordan Chicago
1967 Rick Barry San Fran.
1962 Elgin Baylor* L.A. (Lakers)
* Five straight games


Performing on the highest stage is more important than performing in a meaningless regular season game.

[Flash3]

@ this thread & @ the OP's comments.

[NetsForce]

It depends... There are some people who (lol!) claim that Wade is already a Hall of Famer and that he's already one of the greatest players to play the game, those people tend to overrate Wade... But... As of late Wade probably gets underrated, I've seen him get compared to players like Kevin Martin and Brandon Roy and people try to make a legitimate argument that the aforementioned players are on the same level as Wade. That's absurd.

Just because Wade completely failed to lead the Heat this year doesn't mean he's not a star anymore. I mean T-Mac has failed at leading his team numerous times, I guess the same thing goes with Vince, and those guys aren't underrated on these boards...

[Wade3Iverson]

Right now I would say Wade is one of the more underrated players in the league. How can you be overrated and have the worst record in the league. No one is saying anything good about Wade this year and all of sudden its seems like 20 players jumped ahead of him in the rankings.

I'm gonna give you the benefit of the doubt because you're new but if you were to read through all of the threads on RealGM you would see that he isn't rated high enough to be considered overrated.

Edit: actually you're not new, my bad...I thought your join date was Feb 2008 not 2007.

[_SRV_]

Players' ratings is very similar to the stock market, a very successful PO showing (a historical one at that) or a few consecutive good quarter reviews and you're on the top of the world, fans get on your band wagon or investors try to purchase the stock which creates a bubble effect, a bad year or a bad review, which might not be even related to your personal performance , it might be due to one of your peers/rivals, (lending-conscious banks suffered from the sub prime crises, and profitable High tech companies suffered from the .com bubble explosion early in this decade, just like Wade suffered from a very bad Heat around him and a bad decision by Riley in hindsight) can drive your value down, and usually lower than the real value.
It's not something new, Kobe was trashed a lot in the first 2 post Shaq years, McGrady was the second coming of MJ once and in other times a 3rd tier star, over a long enough period the player's value can be evaluated properly, seasonal evaluation will affect a rating of players' whole career up to certain point, but it should plateau around the real value at the end.

[TooNice00]

seriously what superstar or star player isn't overrated and underrated? lebrons overrated, duncan is overrated, kg is overrated, kobes overrated, iversons overrated, dwight is overrated...ect...and guess what they are underrated too.

[dockingsched]

more like underrated. these joke threads sadly aren't surprising anymore.

[ViNNNsanity]

all refs

[ITK9]

at this point wade is not overrated.