In an ongoing case of history repeating itself, Dwyane Wade is off to another slow start for the Miami Heat.
Wade has already missed three of the Heat’s first 14 games. His increasingly bothersome knees have more or less plagued him all year.
Wade has even said himself in an interview with the Miami Herald that he generally operates at 70 to 75 percent capacity. Various forms of therapy are keeping him tenuously afloat in the early goings of this NBA campaign.
But things really aren’t as bad as they seem. Allow us to entertain the paradoxical nature of Wade’s recent career tendencies.
The 2008-2009 season marked a time of career-highs for Wade. He played in 79 of 82 games (all starts) and averaged 30.2 points, 7.5 assists, 2.2 steals and 1.3 blocks. He logged 38.6 minutes per game and shot 31.7 percent from three-point range.
Since then, Wade’s statistical totals have decreased unequivocally across the board.
Most notable are the 49 games missed over the past three seasons (2013-2014 included). His 18.0 PPG this year—including two sub-40 percent shooting performances and two games with eights points or fewer—would also seem to present a stark downward trend.
Yet, balky knees and all, toss this collection of depressing phenomena out the window—the pertinent reality lies elsewhere.
Wade is following the same path he’s traversed since 2011-2012. He’s exactly where he’s been for the previous two seasons. And where he’s been entails a place of NBA-title, trophy-hoisting magic.
Hackneyed sports clichés be damned, but a NBA campaign is a marathon, not a race. It’s 82 games of often-meaningless regular-season action until the playoffs begin. This is especially true for reigning champs who are prohibited favorites to retain their crown.
Thus, the Miami Heat need not be worried.
Wade is merely taking this early-season “opportunity…to focus on getting stronger” and to “do what’s best for [his] body.”
He has missed just one game out of the possible 67 during Miami’s run of three consecutive finals appearances and two championships. He’ll suit up in optimal form when the Heat make their latest run as a top-two seed in the 2014 playoffs.
Plus, compiling 18.0 PTS, 4.6 REB, 5.7 AST and 2.1 STL on 50.1 percent shooting is an appropriate contribution level for Wade. Posting an above-average 21.2 player efficiency rating is plenty sufficient when LeBron James is playing at an unconscious level alongside him.
To wit, here’s LeBron’s impossible stat line: 26.0 PTS, 5.7 REB, 6.6 AST, 60.9 FG%, 48.8 3P%, 80.0 FT%, 30.5 PER.
Wade will continue missing games as the Heat march toward postseason basketball.
But that’s okay—it’s only November. Miami is 12-3 and the playoffs don’t even begin until April.
Until then, we'll let the war of rest-inducing attrition rule the day. Wade isn't going anywhere.
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