fast-break wrote:DWadeno3 wrote:
He put up decent numbers, despitehis early season struggles when he was still playing himself in shape due to recovery from surgery and his late season struggles due to the bone bruise when he played through them. That was my point.
Also, Wade has playoff averages of 23.7/5.5/5.2/1.7/1.1 on 47% shooting (including this year's dreadful run), so it's not as if you couldn't expect him to be productive come playoff time. The only issue is health, although he's even been able to push through that when desperate times are around.
Ultimately my point is that I expect him to at least match last year's productivity given that he won't waste a summer with surgery and recovery.
Yeah I'm sure he will too. Everyone should play around their productivity from last season. Maybe a slight drop from Repeat hangover...but overall the Regular Season is relatively easy for this team.
I actually expect Wade's numbers to improve. He's had some piss poor games, particularly against the better defenses in the league. Part of that is because his game wasn't on par. I like that Riley and he himself are challenging him to become leaner and a more consistent jump shooter in order to be able to destroy the good defenses again. We all know the reason LeBron is better with us than with Cleveland is mainly attributed to changing his game from a brutal athleticism game to a good mixture of outside shooting, post-ups and driving. All Wade lacks is the consistent outside shot and he seems to have noticed that too. There are too many open threes and midrange jumpers that he passes up, which you can't afford against a good defense. He may not be the driver he once was, but he still is deadly and teams know that. They also know his reluctance to shoot outside shots. When he had the stretch of really clicking from the outside, we looked as dominant as we should. In the Finals, that fact was exposed more than ever. When Wade's outside game wasn't there, we struggled. When it was there, we were clearly the better team.
Since we weren't able to add to our roster, Wade returning to superstardom is essential to our success going forward. There isn't really much more LeBron can do and CB is who he is. Wade on the other hand is a wildcard. His raw numbers look good, but as you've noticed too, his playoff numbers have been uncharacteristically low the past two seasons, which is an indicator of him struggling against good defenses. The years he was in good condition physically and was playing his game, he also had great PO numbers (04/05, 05/06, 08/09, 09/10, 10/11). The years he wasn't right or not up to par, his playoff numbers dropped significantly (06/07 when he came back to early from injury, 11/12, 12/13).
Point there being, it's not a matter of just believing Wade will be better, it's a matter of expecting and needing him to get better again.