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Dwyane Wade, Page 2

NBA’s Flopping Superstars: Double Standard or No Standard At All?

The MAMBINO crew (and the general NBA writing populace) has been afire with rage at the egregious and seemingly unending flopping going on in these playoffs. LeBron, Wade, Chris Paul, James Harden and the like have been throwing their bodies around the court as if they got hit by a Rhinoceros rather than a hard screen or an errant forearm from a shooter. Commissioner David Stern has taken notice and there are whispers that a “flopping” committee will be instituted to stop our favorite NBA-ers from being thespians rather than the hard-nosed ballers of yesteryear. 

But the controversy got us thinking, do the NBA superstars get away with flopping because the refs let them operate under a completely different set of rules? Or perhaps everyone does this, but maybe we’re just a little too sensitive to our best and brightest flailing about the court? The CDP and I discuss.

The CDP: There’s no doubt that the NBA disciplinary committee has had a pretty tough time keeping order in the L this year, with a rash of hard fouls on a mid-air Blake Griffin and lots of tough fouls to officiate. As a Lakers fan, my season was bookended with big Lakers suspensions by stupid fouls from our frontcourt: Bynum’s assassination attempt on JJ Barea and Metta World Peace’s elbow to the skull of James Harden. At the moment, though, the controversy is all about the Heat. On one hand, you have to admire a team like the Heat’s ability to get to the line with their explosive athleticism and deft maneuvering into the paint. Sometimes it’s hard to do anything else with LeBron and Wade but foul them. Through obscenely bad flops, constant yammering at the refs, and some Academy Award-caliber acting, it seems like this advantage has been contorted into something else entirely. There’s a growing sentiment that the Heat are playing by a whole other set of rules. In one short sequence against the Knicks, LeBron flopped against JR Smith before treating us to one of the worst flops I’ve ever seen. It swung the momentum of the game and was initially called a Flagrant 2 foul before being downgraded to a Flagrant 1. Poor Tyson Chandler is rightfully incredulous, as is the announcing team, prompting Van Gundy to wonder what kind of league the NBA is becoming where this is a flagrant foul.

What do you think? KOBEsh, do you feel like Kobe gets treated the same way?

KOBEsh: “I figured that shit out at an early age. I’ve seen Michael Jordan not take one fucking charge and he’s healthy his whole career. I don’t take charges” – Kobe Bean Bryant

Interesting question. The bottom line here is yes, Kobe’s been able to play by a different set of rules from the other mortal guards that occupy our beloved L. In my mind, there’s no doubt that Kobe gets extra calls that other players won’t get. But there are two conflicting ideas here though – does Kobe get extra calls because he attempts to get them, or does he get extra calls because the referees are keeping an even more judicious eye on Kobe and his defender because, well, he’s Kobe?
It’s both. Kobe knows that the stripes pay more attention to him, so in turn, he’ll accentuate contact when goign up for a shot, or scream loudly in the lane when trying to get to the rack. The Mamba, no different than any other player in the league, wants to get calls and uses it to his advantage that he is a superstar you can’t ignore.
The difference betwen Kobe and LeBron, Wade and the ilk here, is that Bry
… Read more...

Chris Bosh: Indispensable in More Ways than You Know

Bosh should have stayed in Toronto
solely because he actually looks like a Raptor.

The list was LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Dirk Nowitzki. After them, in no particular order was Chris Bosh, Amar’e Stoudemire, Ray Allen, Carlos Boozer, Joe Johnson, Rudy Gay and David Lee. These were the free agents of 2010 for the National Basketball Association. Never before had so many perennial All-Stars been free agents in the same summer. Some, more than others, had the ability to transform the fortunes of a franchise for the next decade.

When the clock turned to 12:00 on July 1, every basketball writer on the planet was focused on getting the scoop on where each of these esteemed ballers were heading, and for what money. The rumors flew fast and furious at a pace that made even Ric Bucher’s hair move.
I remember having very little doubt that Wade was going to remain in Miami, regardless of whoever came there with him, and that Dirk’s return to Dallas was all but sealed. I thought that Boozer, Stoudemire and Johnson would probably move, and would have a positive impact on whatever new environ they settled in. But nothing mattered as much as where LeBron landed.
From there, we all know the story. We covered it extensively on this blog (here and here) which I’m sure you went directly towards regardless of the other 14,569 articles…just on Yahoo Sports. With James following Wade and Bosh to Miami, the storylines were as follows:

Will LeBron ever be able to win the big one, even with more help?
How will Wade and James co-exist?
Does Wade’s and James’ skillsets render each other’s redundant?
Who gets the shot with 2 seconds on the clock?
Can LeBron solve his fourth quarter woes even with a better supporting cast?
Does going to Miami increase the pressure on LeBron?
How will Cleveland handle LeBron’s return?
Who’s team is it: LeBron’s, or Dwyane’s?
Why would LeBron chooes to side with his biggest rival, Wade, rather than try to defeat him?
How many teams have ever had two of the best five players in the league?
All of those questions ignore Chris Bosh. He’s made 7 All-Star teams and is Toronto’s all-time leader in points, minutes played, rebounds, blocks and double-doubles. He is one of the finest players in the NBA and within its top 25 most talented. He is very very good. So why does he constantly get ignored when talking about the Miami Heat? Especially when I think he may be its most irreplaceable player?
Chris Bosh is more “not a lot of things on the Heat” than “is a lot of things on the Heat”. What do I mean by that? He is not their best player, nor is he their MVP. He doesn’t have the most well-rounded skill set, nor is he the best scorer. He’s not the best rebounder…hell…he’s not even the third best rebounder. He’s not their best shot blocker, and wouldn’t be considered the first, second, third or even fifth best defender.
But Bosh is Miami’s most irreplaceable player. It’s relatively simple. Without him, the Heat go from a slightly flawed title contender to a very flawed playoff team.  If the team is missing either LeBron or Wade, the Heat could still win a championship (not both, obviously — don’t get crazy now). But without Chris Bosh, I don’t even think they could get past the Knicks.
The most basic metric here, as should be with any form of competition, is winning and losing. Without Bosh, the Heat are on a two-game losing streak. I don’t think that th… Read more...

BQ #2 – Could the Heat Possibly Fall Short…Again?

Everybody has more or less settled into this malaise where it doesn’t matter whether or not the Miami Heat win this year. The unnecessary venom has been tucked into the back pocket, and hoopheads are widely declaring that LeBron will be hoisting his first Larry O’Brien trophy in June. It’s a simple argument: the Heat have the most talented roster, and after a solid year together, they’re ready to win 2 more games than they did last year.

But since we’re in the business of giving you something to read that you can’t find anywhere else, the Bossman and I have compiled a list of reasons why Miami could fall short once again.

5. Dwyane Wade’s perimeter shooting has not improved.

BockerKnocker: It was surprising to see how ineffective the Heat offense was when the Boston Celtics employed a roaming 2-3 zone defense last week. The concept of a zone defense places each individual defender in a “zone,” as opposed to assigning each defender to a corresponding player on offense. While this makes it more difficult for the offense to drive to the basket, the zone defense allows for open shots on the perimeter. This isn’t a foreign concept; teams have recognized the advantages and disadvantages of zone defense since its inception. Boston switched to a zone defense because LeBron and D-Wade were bullying their way through the paint and scoring at will. And even though the Heat eventually won the game, it was more because the Celtics expended all their energy coming back from 20 points down, that they didn’t have enough to bring it home.

Each Miami possession against the zone defense was shockingly full of turnovers, hesitation, and maybe a dash of fear. They played as if they hadn’t practiced their offense against a zone…which makes you think…is it possible that they didn’t practice their offense against a zone? Most NBA players can’t stop LeBron or Wade in a man-to-man scheme. And on a good night, the two are legitimately unguardable. But one thing stuck out as Sportscenter rolled highlights of Miami’s last second win in Charlotte (another game in which the zone defense rendered Miami very average-looking): neither of the two kings of Miami had attempted a 3-point shot for the season. (They have each attempted 1 shot behind the arc since the Bobcats game.) My thought: why not? I can get behind the notion that every player should attack the rim, first and foremost, but a killer perimeter game is the perfect Plan B when things veer off schedule. Instead of forcing their way to the hoop, would it kill them to take a couple more 3s? As superstars, both LeBron and Wade will get to the line, and additionally, more often than not will the Heat eek out close victories even against the vaunted zone defense. But truthfully, it is a bit startling to see a less-than-dynamic offense coming from South Beach.

The biggest culprit is Dwyane Wade, a career 29% shooter from downtown. For all of his strengths, that is one very glaring weakness. He needs to spend less time telling us what he’s wearing, less time stuffing Gabrielle Union, and less time throwing alley-oops to Bron in practice. Figure it out, D-Wade; your three point shooting percentage baffles me as much as how you spell your name.

4. Because even NBA players in their primes can’t stay healthy for this long

KOBEshigawa: Last year, these core members of the Heat played in these number of games-

LeBron James: 79
Dwyane Wade: 76
Chris Bosh: 77
Joel Anthony: 75
Mario Chalmers: 70
James Jones: 81
Zy… Read more...