Monday, March 10, 2008

Is Dwayne Wade Overrated?

From the beginning, even with the Championship a few years back, Dwayne Wade has been an overrated player. Yes, I know that he won a championship, he was the finals MVP, and he scores nearly 25 points a game. Wade has been a great player for his entire career I agree, but when it was his moment to shine and put a team on his back in this season, he failed. Not only did he fail, but he failed miserably. This year he led the Miami Heat to league worst 11-50 record. A team with a so called "Superstar" is the worst team in the NBA. You can blame the supporting cast, you can blame injuries, you can blame Shaq, and you can probably blame Pat Riley, but even with all of this happening, a franchise player does not let his team go 11-50.
The first argument people have for Wade is that he won a championship and was the Finals MVP. Well, last year Tony Parker was the Finals MVP, but was he the real reason why the Spurs won, or was it because everyone was trying to stop Tim Duncan. This goes the same way for Wade, who benefited from Shaq being double and triple teamed. Wade was able to score because the Mavs were so fixed on stopping Shaq that they forgot Wade could score too.

Shaq was the reason for much of the Heat's success. In Wade's first season, the Heat went 42-40 with a mediocre team. The Heat acquired Shaq in the next season, they went 155-91 in the next 3 seasons with a healthy Shaq and went on to win a championship. In a season where Wade had to carry the load and hold the team together the Heat go 11-50 (Shaq playing in 33 games for almost 30 minutes per).

Let's put it this way, if you put another superstar in that situation; do you think the Heat would of won more than 3 games in the 2008 calender year. We know Kobe or Lebron could do it, but what about an average superstar. Last year the Celtics were the worst team in the NBA and in the first 61 games had a record of 18-43. This team had only Paul Pierce and Al Jefferson, who did not play the way he is playing now. This current Heat team has a far better supporting cast than the Celtics of last year, plus you had Shaq for 33 games. You should expect the Heat to have a far better record at any point than last years Celtics. So if you put a Paul Pierce in place of Wade and next to Shaq and now Shawn Marion, the Heat have a lot more wins than 11.
I'm not going to say Wade is an ordinary player, because he is not. He is a great player, but not a great leader. A leader leads his team to more than 11 wins in 61 games. He is a top talent in the league, but many people out there, including other expert analysts, seem to be fixated on Wade being a top 10 player in the league. If you write down a list of top 10 players in the league right now and you stick them on the Miami Heat, would you think that they would have the worst record in the NBA? I would have to say no. Now that Wade is gone, I will make a prediction that the Heat go 7-14 in their remaining 21 games. Then we can all question, how is Dwayne Wade a top 10 "Superstar"? Agree to disagree.

39 comments:

Anonymous said...

Yes he is very much overrated.

No "SUPER"star should let his team lose that much especially with shawn marion, ricky davis and pat riley as a coach.

Yes you could bring up my Celtics last year and Paul Pierce but Pierce was hurt all year thats why.

Our big losing streak was when he was out.

If it was lebron james in place of wade on this heat team the team would be at least .500

Anonymous said...

I think he's gonna burn out by the time he's 30 - and then retire with too many injuries

Eric Pedigo said...

You can't put Miami's lack of success all on Wade. And it is totally fair to point out the injury issues, and the fact that he has no help. The Heat are a brutal team. Wade should be applauded for trying to come help his team instead of dealing with his injuries. He's easily a top ten player in the league at full health.If you want overrated, try Dirk Nowitzki or Gilbert Arenas. But not D-Wade. No one has ever been able to do it alone. Not Shaq, not Kobe, not LeBron, not even MJ. Is Wade as good as LeBron? Absolutely not, but who is? Kobe maybe. But not for long. It's an unfair comparison, like Clyde Drexler to Jordan. Drexler was a great player, not Jordan, but not overrated either. Give Wade some help in Miami and let him fully recover, then ask if he's overrated.

Eric Pedigo
and The Athletic Supporters
Monday thru Thursday 4-6pm cst on
www.DisasterRadio.net

Anonymous said...

Actually, he's had a solid season after all the injuries. Im quite impressed. I dont know why people are hatin on Dwade. Those injuries are serious, and obviously he didnt have the off-season to sharpen his skills and get the rust off because of rehab. He obviously is not the same guy the previous 3 seasons. Before the injury last year he was doing well with a bad lineup, composed of old veterans and inefficient players
- jwill, walker. He led the heat to .50 record with shaq out. And he was probably the best player 3/4s of the season if not for the injury ave 28 ppg 7apg 6 rpg 1.9 spg, just under 1 block (.95) while shooting nearly 50% FG. Kobe also didnt make the playoff when shaq was traded and he didnt even was able to shoulder his team against detroit in the finals and ave a whopping 36% and 22 ppg, when the team needed him the most. While wade who according to you averaged just 36 ppg and 39-40 ppg in the last 4 games because shaq was getting all the attention? Man, that's a bit of a stretch. Against the same pistons where Kobe ave 36% FG, Wade averaged 67% for th WHOLE series! And dont tell me the pistons where triple teaming shaq because they use Ben Wallace for single coverage against him. So if Kobe can have a bad year, Im sure wade is allowed one bad year. Stop hatin and face the facts. He'll be back next season, watch out NBA.

agreetodisagree said...

Yes, you guys are correct in that Wade is injured and he has a horrible team. I am not saying that Wade is a bad talent, but I am saying that he is not at level to lead a team. He is paired up with Shaq for half a season and Marion to go along with a coach like Pat Riley. Put injuries aside, there is no excuse to win 11 out of 61 games in the EAST. Absolutely no way. Yes Dirk and Agent0 are overrated, but if you put them in that Heat team, I can bet they come out with more than 11 wins, you have to agree with that.
Thanks for all your comments and support.

Anonymous said...

i feel mixed on this. Being a huge Heat fan, i love dwade but at the same time this has one of the worst seasons ever. Now he quit on the season.
on one hand, wade is a such a special player that does amazing things and has a ring. you can't deny that.
on the other hand, there is no excuse to have 11 wins in the eastern conference. I think about other superstars and I think they come out with more than 11 wins. i mean, it's the east, how is that possible.
if the heat win more than 5 games the rest of the year i am going to really question dwade as a team leader on the team.

Anonymous said...

i think D-Wade is overrated. He is a star not a SUPER STAR.
people keep saying he's not back from injury but Kobe is injured right now and still putting up nice numbers. STAT had the microfracture injury and still came back with monster numbers.

Wade lead the league in turnovers and his team is DEAD LAST in the league. i know HEAT is better than the T-WOLVS.

Anonymous said...

he is over rated. the handing of a championship via the FT line made wade seem better than he was.

Eric Pedigo said...

So after a little thinking, I can see how Wade may be perceived as overrated. But I think that's more of a reflection of everyone having too high of expectations. He won a title his second year in the league. I heard comparisons that year to MJ of all people. He's a great player, but it would be impossible to live up to what everyone had him pegged to be. Is he overrated to me? No. I never put him on the same level as Jordan, LeBron, or Kobe. So in this case, overrated is in the eye of the beholder. If you had unreasonable expectations for him, then yes, he's overrated. And you can't knock a guy for getting to the foul line. All that shows is a determination to get to the hoop. Without free throws, Wilt Chamberlain would only have scored 72 points on that record-setting night(28-32 from the line I think). Today on my show, I tried to come up with the top ten players in league right now. D Wade comes in around 8th or 9th for me. If you don't think he cracks the top ten, then let me know who does. And I thought of someone else who is incredibly overrated, Frank Caliendo. He does a good John Madden but his jokes are weak.

Eric Pedigo and The Athletic Supporters
Monday thru Thursday 4-6pm cst on
www.DisasterRadio.net

Anonymous said...

he is a great player but when i think of a top 10 i think of more than 11 wins personally, even if you have to play 5 on 1. we have seen some bad teams but even minnesota is winning more and all they have is Al Jefferson. wade has great talent but he doesn't make anyone better so i would say that he is a little overrated.

Eric Pedigo said...

Personally D Wade doesn't have 11 wins, the Heat do. This isn't tennis, there's a whole team involved. Again, no one can do it alone. Still, give me a top ten without D Wade.

Anonymous said...

1. Kobe
2. Lebron
3. CP3
4. Duncan
5. Dirk
6. TMac
7. KG
8. Dwight Howard
9. Nash
10. Pierce (got more wins with less talent last year)
11. Yao
12. Iverson
Any of these guys can carry any team to more than 11 wins in a season. Especially if you pair them up with an unhealthy Shaq, then a Marion, and a coach like Riley. A lot of this falls in the hands of the coach as well but a top player performs for his team even if he has to do it alone.

Eric Pedigo said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Eric Pedigo said...

Nice list, but I wouldn't take Nowitzki, the guy who choked away a championship to DWade and the Heat, over DWade. And I'm not convinced Paul Pierce had less talent to work with. The Heat are amazingly bad. Plus, Pierce wasn't playing through an injury. You wouldn't expect Yao to be a superstar if he was playing through his injury. Look what Wade did when he was healthy and had a decent team around him. It's unfair to judge a guy based on one bad season. Especially when in that season, he played hurt and still put up 24.6 a night, good for 5th best in the league. And just so everyone knows, Ricky Davis isn't that good, and Shawn Marion just got to town. Wade and Marion barely had time to exchange cell phone numbers, let alone develop any kind of chemistry on the court. So that's an invalid point. But I think this an excellent topic, good stuff everyone.

Anonymous said...

it's hard to judge this right now. we have to see what happens when wade plays healthy if that would ever happen. if the heat have another bad season next year then we can definitely say wade is overrated. does everyone agree to that

Eric Pedigo said...

It's easy to kick a guy when he's down. You only have credibility if you truly thought this two years ago when he was healthy and winning.

Mr. Kramer said...

I like the topic and the conversation. I've been trying to put up a top 10 without DWade, and its not that easy.

1. Kobe
2. Bron
3. KG
4. Nash
5. Chris Paul
6. TMac
All of the above are obvious, but after them it gets harder.
7. Dirk (choked it to Wade as mentioned before)
8. AI (did it alone, but a long time ago)
9. Mello (didn't do it without AI)
10. Duncan (also never did anything without support)
11. Paul Pierce (also didn't do much without a supporting cast and doesn't have the national recognition)
12. Dwight Howard (can't wait to see what he can do)
13. Darennt Williams (the best kept secret in the NBA)
The bottom line is that every season and every schedule are different so you really can't compare records one team to another or one season to another, if you loose 11 games or 16 games its basically the same your team just sucked.
The real test of a superstar is if you can lead a team into the playoffs. The top 6 on this list have proved that they can more or less on their own; everybody else not so much. But does that mean that just because DWade can't do what 99.9% of the population can't do doesn't mean he's overrated. How many of the #7-#13 "superstars" would you really take over DWade? My answer is not many, so maybe not top 10 but absolutely top 15.

Anonymous said...

Hello. This post is likeable, and your blog is very interesting, congratulations :-). I will add in my blogroll =). If possible gives a last there on my blog, it is about the Computador, I hope you enjoy. The address is http://computador-brasil.blogspot.com. A hug.

Anonymous said...

WWW.laughable-sport.com you laugh with tears

Anonymous said...

Hmm...seems like I was right. You're all welcome

DeAndre Harmon said...

Some of you sound very stupid. Like you never watched basketball before. D Wade avraged 16ppg his rookie season and averaged above 20 ppg every year after. D Wade has the all aroung package. Honestly I believe that he is better than LBJ. He scores the basketball (led the league this season in scoring 30ppg). He can rebound for a SHORT guard 5rpg this season. Can assist the ball almost 8apg this season. Was supposed to be a 1st team all defender 2bpg and 3spg. Someone also says he wasnt a leader led his team to 40+ wins after having a 15 win season. Idiots D Wade will be the best player in 2 years

Anonymous said...

He is a great player, but not a great leader.


See Live Match

The Hate Giver said...

Don't forget about all the gift calls he got on his way to winning the championship.

Wade is a great player, a difference maker, but skillwise you can't put him in the same sentence as transcendent players like MJ, Kobe, T-Mac (when healthy), et al.

His jumper is suspect, and so much of his game is dependent on stretching the rules of travelling and palming to, and often times beyond, their absolute limits.

Did I mention how horribly biased the officiating was in favor of Wade in those Finals?

Still in the midst of their ongoing struggle to fill the ratings void left by MJ's retirement (ratings never recovered, even during the Kobe-Shaq era), the NBA needed a poster boy, and Wade was in the right place/right time.

He's the most manufactured NBA megastar I've ever seen.

Ara said...

Good day!
I'm looking for any contact details (email, phone number or mail

address)of the website owner or marketing person that I can communicate

with for possible business venture on website income opportunities. We

are very much interested to do business with you. Please send me an

email together with your website name and I'll be glad to call you to

discuss this matter.
Thank you

arazeilia@yourmediaguru.com

Anonymous said...

I know this web page offers quality dependent content and additional stuff,
is there any other web site which gives these kinds of data in quality?
My weblog : www.freie-radios.at

Anonymous said...

This is my first time visit at here and i am really happy
to read all at single place.
My web site :: http://wiki.ordenmagii.ru

Anonymous said...

It's actually a cool and useful piece of info. I am happy that you shared this useful info with us. Please stay us informed like this. Thank you for sharing.

My page: make money online for newbies

Anonymous said...

I have been browsing online more than 3 hours lately, but I by no means discovered any interesting article like yours.

It's beautiful price sufficient for me. In my opinion, if all web owners and bloggers made good content as you did, the web will likely be much more useful than ever before.

Also visit my page: innovative marketing

Anonymous said...

Right here is the perfect web site for anyone who hopes to find out about
this topic. You know so much its almost tough to argue with you (not that I really
will need to…HaHa). You certainly put a new spin on a topic
that has been written about for years. Wonderful stuff,
just wonderful!

Look at my web blog good marketing

Anonymous said...

Whаt's up i am kavin, its my first occasion to commenting anywhere, when i read this post i thought i could also make comment due to this good piece of writing.

Feel free to surf to my web blog ... payday loans

Anonymous said...

I every time spent my half an hour to read this web
site's articles or reviews daily along with a mug of coffee.

Stop by my web site; commie

Anonymous said...

You аctually maκe it appeaг sο еasy
along with уour pгеsentation but I to find
this topic to be actually οnе thіng that I belieѵe I might
bу no mеаns undеrstand.
It seems too complicаteԁ and extremely ωide for me.
Ι'm taking a look ahead in your subsequent publish, I will attempt to get the dangle of it!

Look at my web blog - payday loans online
Also see my webpage :: payday loans online

Anonymous said...

Sen bize neler istedi ini bir ka kelime ile anlat rs n, bizde senin sylediklerine
gre aksiyonu gerekle tiririz, senin Telefon Sex
ka ar k z n oluruz. telefon sex fantezileri tamam
ile hayalidir, yleki hayali derken asl nda gerek hayat n yans malar d r.

Anonymous said...

Greetings! Quicκ question thаt's totally off topic. Do you know how to make your site mobile friendly? My blog looks weird when browsing from my iphone4. I'm trying to find a theme or plugin that might
be able tο сorrеct this рroblem.
If you hаve anу rеcommеndations, plеаse share.

Thank you!

Also νisіt my webpage; V2 Cigs Reviews

Anonymous said...

Maybe it's time for a version of Mario Kart that has Luigi and Peach running the New York Asian Film Festival. However the uniqueness is somewhat lacking as it is a great game and you will quickly realise why. Anyhow, let your kids decide if they'll let you use
the 'kids cards' too for a couple of years,
gaming has evolved to something different.

Feel free to surf to my web blog: pre owned video games

Anonymous said...

Storm Chacers caused the cancellation of more than a third.
Southland's recent storm chacers experience is just another clear demonstration of the complexity of the whole setup suits your surroundings. 19 inches of rain during the month. Focused on becoming better than his father, a natural born overachiever, he has no love for his son and he cannot express any kind of storm chacers conditions.

Also visit my website: weather spotters

Anonymous said...

Simplicity, functionality and durability are the features
that identify classic things for women. For illustrative purposes, imagine you
are faced with an important legal matter, and it is up to you to choose the best lawyer, choose right and walk away free, choose wrong and
you may pay a hefty fine, or worse. Keeping up with the demands of the individuals and the pace of the rapidly
developing industry, the watch manufacturing brands
like the Obaku are coming up with brilliant options that combine simplicity, shape
and texture.

My web page; michele watches

Anonymous said...

Apart from the design of engagement rings, another important consideration when going
ring shopping is your particular choice of jewelry store.
The second option will require more diamonds but will give the engagement ring a fuller appearance.
Carat - Diamond size is directly linked to stone cost.


Visit my weblog :: 3 stone engagement rings

Anonymous said...

You do not want any hard surfaced to come in contact with the
soft delicate skin of your little one. What makes bassinets so popular is their portability.

A toddler bed is often used when the baby gets a little bigger.



Here is my weblog; toddler bed ()