TNT’s Chris Webber Compares Dwyane Wade to Tim Duncan
By Wes Goldberg
TNT analyst Chris Webber compared Dwyane Wade’s evolution to that of Tim Duncan, and unlike Lakers guard Kobe Bryant.
When Dwyane Wade crossed over New York Knicks guard Langston Galloway during the Miami Heat’s 97-78 win Friday night, the comments on the highlight reel used the word “vintage.” That was “vintage Wade.”
It was something out of the circa-2006 Wade archives. But we don’t always see such athleticism take over for Wade. He’s reinvented himself, picked up the old-man game and is now out-cunning–not out-running or out-jumping–opponents to baskets.
It’s a similar mid-career pivot to San Antonio Spurs great Tim Duncan. Duncan has reinvented his game, no longer the center-piece of the team every play but a potentially-dominant, complementary piece of a bigger team system.
Thanks to the great organization in San Antonio, Duncan was surrounded by the likes of Tony Parker, then Kawhi Leonard and LaMarcus Aldridge.
The Heat are doing something similar, building a strong team around Wade that includes Chris Bosh and Goran Dragic and youngsters Hassan Whiteside and Justise Winslow.
"“So if you afford Dwyane Wade that,” Webber said of an ongoing support system, “I don’t care how old he is. He is going to get to the free-throw line. He’s going to knock down the shot off of a pump fake, and the Euro-step and is going to walk into a three.”“I think whatever a team does, it’s not only a rebuilding of expectations, it’s rebuilding of mentality,” Webber said. “And I think what’s great about this Miami team is you know it’s a Pat Riley team.“And even if it’s to build around these guys until you find those new superstars to be ushered in, rookies that come in as high picks, they’d love to have a Dwyane Wade or a guy that’s done it to be their mentors.”"
It’s unlike other great 2-guard Kobe Bryant. Kobe has been anything but complementary this season, and anything but good. His shooting percentages are in the toilet, and he hasn’t evolved his game in the twilight of his career. But he doesn’t have the team, really, that allows him to have that opportunity.
So it comes down to great organizations, headed by those like Gregg Popovich and Pat Riley, to help usher these stars into the next phase of their careers as the team takes its next step into a new era. Rather than cut bait with these veterans, they are gently folded into the new dynamic of the team.
Webber added: “If you have championship pedigree with Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh, I would absolutely keep them and let them play until the wheels fall off,”