NBA Miami Heat

Is Dwyane Wade Really The Miami Heat’s Triple-Threat?

Fresh Videos

By @blackirishpr

Miami Heat

Getty Images

It’s hard to fathom an 11-year veteran and future Hall of Famer actually entering the fifth stage of his career as he reinvents himself for the fourth time while still being expected to hold superstar status. But such is the life of the Miami Heat’s Dwyane Wade.

He’s been the surprising rookie, the flashy NBA Finals MVP, the lone star, the sidekick and now what? I was not quite sure what he was and I’m not positive that the team knew either.

On nights like the opener, Wade comes out and has a trifecta of events that are the highlights of his career — shaky shooting, an injury and finding a way to single-handedly seal the game. Three days later he looks terrible on 4-for-18 shooting while getting outplayed by his backup, Mario Chalmers. Then during the third game of the season something unexplainable happened, as he somehow looked fresher in the second night of a back-to-back than the first two outings where he had rest.

But it wasn’t so much his efficient 7-for-11 shooting effort that defined his role, as it was his postgame comments about being the Heat’s new Mr. Do Everything:

“I know that I’m always a threat when I have the ball. Some nights [are] going to be my nights to score the ball, but with that some night [are] going to be my nights to get my teammates shots and tonight I knew I had to help rebound… I’m just trying to do what I can.”

Talk of players simply going with the flow of the game is usually grossly overstated, but if you breakdown the stats, Wade’s 11 rebounds, seven assists performance — coupled with his previous 10 assists showing — has him right on par with his career averages of five-plus in both categories.

That’s a D-Wade that we have not seen since the 2012-13 season and rarely during the Big Three regime.

All in all, it is great to see the 32-year-old showing that he can still be an offensive triple-threat, but in the end the team will need him to be consistent with the buckets like when they had No. 6.

Richard Nurse is a writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @blackirishpr or add him to your network on Google.

Share Tweet
Trending Now on