Dwyane Wade’s Next Step Should Be Beyond the Arc
By Wes Goldberg
With the Miami Heat bustling about with their off-season preparations, they have plenty of things to work on. A pair of contract options held by Goran Dragic and Luol Deng, scouting for a possible lottery pick, and a putting together a development program for Hassan Whiteside are on top of the organization’s list. Worrying about its ring leader and star Dwyane Wade isn’t part of the off-season process.
He may opt in. He may opt out. It doesn’t matter. Wade will be with the Heat next season, and his preparation for next year is what he’s worrying about.
He’s starting his summer early, joining former teammate Caron Butler to take part in celebrity trainer Luther Freeman’s 30 Day Transformation, breaking only for a gala here and there.
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Off-season experiments to get in better shape aren’t new for Wade. In 2014, he tried going Paleo for a bit and has gone oversees for work on his knee in the past. Freeman’s 30 day program is designed to get celebrities in shape, but it should help Wade get a tighter, lighter frame.
All of this is fine and good. However, Wade working on his body is a prerequisite, not an exception. He turned 33 in January and has played more than 28,000 minutes in his career. To keep performing at an All Star level, it seems Wade has to do more than hit the gym every morning.
That aside, it’s time for Wade to do something we’ve been asking him to do for the past five or six years. Start making 3s.
Without LeBron James, Wade attempted 102 3s last season–much more than he’s attempted in either of the three seasons prior, and the first time he’s attempted at least 100 since 2010-11. However, of those 102, he made just 29 of them.
That’s 28.4 percent.
I’ve always been in the corner of “hey, shooting 3s isn’t Wade’s game. He’s a post threat, an underrated pick-and-roll ball handler and a clutch shooter” but it’s time to come out of that corner. The NBA has skewed further and further to 3-point shooting since Wade was drafted, and he’ll look more like the stubborn old man as opposed to the savvy veteran before long.
Take a look at Drew Gooden. Gooden, also 33, was having a hard time sticking to a roster. In 2011-12, he started taking 3s, attempting more than 50 for the first time in his career, though he was making them at a low rate. This year, he’s still taking those 3s and making 39 percent of them, evolving into a stretch-4 and an important part of the Washington Wizards’ playoff run.
It was a matter of NBA survival for Gooden. For Wade, he’ll always have a place with the Heat, but if his team wants to play faster and spread the floor like Erik Spoelstra talked about in the exit interviews Wade will have to evolve for the better of the team.
The Heat were able to go to the Finals with Wade basically rejecting the 3-point line like it was just invented, but that’s because they had Chris Bosh spreading the floor from the inside-out (not to mention LeBron was forced to take 309 3s last season–more than he ever attempted with the Heat–the same year Wade attempted just nine shots from beyond the arc). But with Hassan Whiteside anchoring the middle, Wade won’t have the luxury of his team making room for him. A starting lineup including Wade and Whiteside could very well include two All Stars, but also be a spacing nightmare.
Wade doesn’t need to be a great, or even good, 3-point shooter. The difference between terrible and average is vast. If he makes 3s around a league average rate (35 percent, according to basketball-reference.com), teams will respect him enough to defend him on the 3-point line. I don’t need to go into why 3-point shooting is good for the team. You know that already. And taking a few more 3s every game rather than banging around in the post will be good for Wade’s knees.
Wade’s evolution from a careening slasher playing high above the rim to a post master has been impressive. This is the logical next step. Get that body tight, Wade, then work on that stroke.