Dwyane Wade has become one of the more under-appreciated players in the game over the course of the past few seasons. The hate for Wade stems from analysts, like Charles Barkely, that state old players don’t get healthier, they die, to team beat reporters sending out Tweets like this:
The contract Dwyane Wade signed last summer feels like the Soriano contract. At least the Cubs signed Soriano when he was still really good
— Nick Friedell (@NickFriedell) December 15, 2014
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Alfonso Soriano signed an 8-year $136 million deal with the Chicago Cubs in 2006, right after his age 30-season. Wade signed a 2-year $31.1 million deal this off-season, after his age 32 season. Right off the bat, this comparison is completely bogus, as are the claims that Wade is washed up.
Wade has gone from an indisputable top three player in the league to a guy that not a lot of people consider a superstar anymore. It’s an oddity. While his 42-point performance against the Utah Jazz is not something we should get used to on a nightly basis, it’s a great way to demonstrate that Wade’s game has not disintegrated like many in the league feel (or want to believe) it has.
Before the season, NBA.com polled the 30 GM’s of the league on how they’d rank the top 5 shooting guards in the NBA, here’s how they voted:
"“Who is the best shooting guard in the NBA?”1) James Harden — 63 percent2) Klay Thompson — 18.5 percent3) Stephen Curry — 7.4 percent4) Kobe Bryant — 7.4 percent5) Kevin Durant — 3.7 percent"
Notably absent from the list: Dwyane Wade. The GM’s voted Durant and Curry, neither of them shooting guards, before they even thought of Wade. This is a disgrace.
If we put Wade up against the three players that are shooting guards, let’s see how he compares. (Note: these numbers reflect games played through 12/18/14).
It’s not even disputable that Harden is the best shooting guard in the league right now. He’s the best shooting guard in terms of Player Efficiency Rating. and the leader in terms of Estimated Wins Added. But this article isn’t about what we already know about Harden.
Dwyane Wade is still one of the premier players in the league. Any way you slice his numbers this season, they rank among the best in the NBA. Going into tonight’s game, Wade ranks 8th in the NBA in scoring (22.5 PPG) and 18th in shooting percentage (52.2%). His shooting percentage is the best among non-big men (at least 10 shots per game). Also, Wade is the 10th best player according to the player efficiency ratings (24.02) and 18th (4.1) in estimated wins added (Bosh leads the Heat at 4.8). Not bad for a guy that’s washed up.
Obviously Wade has lost a step or two and is not the same player he was in his late 20’s, but he’s still got a great argument for being a top 10 player in the league, right now. There’s also no way in hell that Wade ranks behind Bryant and Thompson as a shooing guard right now. Kobe is a shell of himself and has become even more of an inefficient chucker and Thompson’s game lacks the well-rounded form of Wade’s.
Since Wade has returned from his calf injury that kept him out of seven games, Wade has averaged 24.5 points on 53.4% shooting. Meaning, he’s getting better as he gets closer to 100% health. Those 24 PPG resemble his career average of points per game.
Wade is not the “Flash” that we fell in love with during the 2006 NBA Finals and the likelihood of that Flash is about as likely as me landing a date with Kate Upton. But that doesn’t mean Wade is still not a star player. In fact, give me a Dwyane Wade at 85% of what he used to be over the majority of the players in the NBA.
While it’s great for Heat fans to see Wade playing at a high level, they as well as Wade himself would trade those impressive individual numbers in for wins, especially one next Thursday, against a certain former Miami Heat player.
Yes, Mike Miller.