Complete Details of Wade's Summer Workout

[Vertical Limit]

3.5 percent body fat? i dont think that's correct...

Pretty sure they did measurements at training camp and the Heat announced that too.

[Birth of the Cool]

3.5 percent body fat? i dont think that's correct...

Pretty sure they did measurements at training camp and the Heat announced that too.

It's the NBA. Heights are exaggerated. Verts are exaggerated. Every team has an off-season picture confirming that their star player is now ripped as heck. Every elite dunker has stories of grabbing coins from the top of the backboard. Don't believe it.

3.5% body fat? LOL. Only rare genetic freaks can get that low (and perhaps Wade is one) but to get to that low a body fat is purely for aesthetic reasons or perhaps if you are on the body building competition circuit. For an NBA player to start the season at that body fat they would be useless by the all-star break. It'd be detrimental to an athlete who would go through the rigors of a NBA season. 3.5% body fat is unhealthy for any extended period of time. Anyways he's probably at something ridiculous like 6%.

[TheAnkh]

Wade is for sure not 3.5% body fat. He is more likely around 6% which is still astounding. Nobody talks a lot about him being a freak athlete, but he honestly is ridiculous. I will say too, that despite how overrated vert is as a trait in basketball, I think his listed vert is not correct. I think they have him at like a 36", but there is no way he is less than 38" imo, maybe even somewhere around 40". His head is consistently at the rim on his fast break dunks, and being shorter than most that shows a lot.

And I think anybody who says Wade is 6'5 hasn't seen him in person. He is not that tall at all, which makes the stuff that he does on the court that much more incredible. I think it'd be better for him to be taller though, because his smaller stature in comparison to the other best players in the league of their time in league history is partly the cause for why everybody underrates/underestimates him.

[ninjabelly]

3.5 body fat would be impossible for someone like him imo, 6 percent is still crazy but possible for wade i think, 3.5 is something that body builders try and get.

[Tim_Hardawayy]

I will say too, that despite how overrated vert is as a trait in basketball, I think his listed vert is not correct. I think they have him at like a 36", but there is no way he is less than 38" imo, maybe even somewhere around 40". His head is consistently at the rim on his fast break dunks, and being shorter than most that shows a lot.

I dunno, I think his vert actually is that low. I don't see his head at the rim often at all, what makes him such a great dunker, besides his body control, is his huge hands. It really allows him to easily control the ball as he goes up with it. His wingspan as well, his arms are so long that it gives him that extra reach needed.

A guy like Kobe, with smaller hands, needs more takeoff room so he can corral the ball going up.

Check out this dunk, which I still think is highly impressive:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TS8eTpXKpd8[/youtube]

In terms of height, you can see he barely got off the ground. He got just high enough that he could get the ball over the rim. What was amazing though was everything that preceded it... the crossover, the change of direction, and then how quickly he stuffed it through the hoop. Combined with his long arms and huge hands, he's able to dunk that whereas most 6'3'' or 6'4'' guys would've had to settle for a layup.

[Chosen01]

He definitely gets up there when he wants too

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s5EeVLK8XWQ[/youtube]

[Tim_Hardawayy]

That was 08-09.. that said, I still wouldn't say his head was at the rim, again, its his arms and hands that help make the dunks look more impressive. Notice he's able to cock the ball back like that, most guys his size can't do that without losing control.

Wade's best in terms of vert was the 08 Olympics, that or the 06 season, but I still don't think it was ever 40''. Shannon Brown is close to Wade's size, and he gets much higher than Wade does.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FK6_6GXHvoM&feature=related[/youtube]

What makes Wade superior is his ability to finish in traffic and game situations. And you really don't have to respond with another Wade clip, I've seen them all

[Zasterror]

I read this article yesterday as well, and saw it was posted here.

There is a lot of talk about offseason workouts, but that being said I'm still anticipating how he will look this year. He mentions that this is the best he has felt since the beginning of the Beijing Olympics. That was the precursor to the 08-09 season, the year I felt Wade was at his athletic peak. He was noticeably leaner that year to if you watch some the game footage from back then.

The thing that has always impressed me about Wade is his physical strength. I think his physical strength impresses me as much has his quickness. He is literally pound for pound one of the strongest NBA players (maybe athletes now that I think about it) I've ever watched.

It reminds me when Wade was playing the Wizards in his second season in the playoffs. There was an SI article about him (when he was emerging as a superstar), and Jared Jeffries said, "Its not so much his speed its his strength, you hit him and he barely even moves". One of the most underrated aspects of Wade is his post defense. You simply cannot move him, I've seen bigger players unable to back him down and forced to shoot jumpshots or kick the ball out.

Its one of the reasons he's such a great post player himself (along with his creativity and great instincts). Its good to see he's improving on his turnaround jumper in the post. I hope Spolestra uses Wade in the post more. I think he was really underutilized there last year and he is one the best post players on the team. He routinely attracts double teams down there, and the team has a dearth of back to the basket players as it is.

I completely agree with you about Wade's strength especially in the post. I remember last season against the Lakers in all of the games Kobe tried his hardest to do his patented post moves on Wade throughout the whole game. Wade didn't budge at all and played terrific post D. That alone made Kobe much more ineffective in those games, Wade knocked him out of his comfort zone.

Check it out Wade vs Kobe in the post in 0:10 and 4:38:

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

And that was with a bum knee!

[plowking]

Being at 3.5% must have been right after a workout. When you drop to 5-6% bodyfat, the body can drop that low after a workout but it cannot sustain staying that low. So after a meal it looks to restore the fat pockets.

It's not exactly unbelievable to think he's that low. Didn't he come into the league with 6% bodyfat at the pre draft? He looks stronger now.

[TheAnkh]

So if it happened in 2008 it doesn't count? Okay then

Either way, whatever is on record will be what his vert goes down as, but I can't help but think he gets higher than that keeping in mind that every player does not get as high as they can on every dunk and also watching Wade soar when he wants to on simple things like rebounds, blocks, and on fast breaks. The video showed of Wade dunking against NY is pretty intellectually dishonest though. He's coming off the dribble, being contested at the rim, takes off very late, so why/how would he get up as high as possible in that situation? To give the defense more of a chance to contest?

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

Wade got almost as high in that Knick video as he did here, coming right off an injury. Are we saying that Wade has never jumped any higher than he did right after the worst injury of his career? I dunno...

Anyway, its just my thoughts and vert isn't that huge of a deal in basketball at the end of the day (again, imo). I'd rather have Wade be at a 36" vert and keep his skillset, than give him the vert of any other player in the league that measured at a higher vert along with their skill set. At the end of the day the draft measurements will be what people go by anyway, so have no fear

[Tim_Hardawayy]

So if it happened in 2008 it doesn't count? Okay then

I meant that 2008 is 5 years removed from the draft, the last time Wade's vert was measured.

That said, I really don't care if people want to believe Wade's vert is higher. That's their prerogative. Just from the eye test, it really doesn't look that way to me though... what makes him so special is his ability to still dunk the ball with authority in traffic, without being able to jump over guys like a Vince or LeBron. I think it actually says more for how good a player Wade is that his vert isn't as impressive as those guys, and he can still play the way he does.