Is it me or is he one of the harder players to place? He's been one of the five best players in the league for the better half of the last decade, yet nobody ever gives him crap for the amount of rings he needs to win, etc.

Yes, winning that first one early on basically removed the pressure that LeBron is currently seeing. But is everyone in agreement in thinking that's all he needs? How come nobody is calling for him to win multiple rings. Five to match Kobe or six to match Jordan?

Is it already assumed that he's locked into the status of third best shooting guard of all-time based on his body of work?

Well I'm not sure who is better than him besides kobe and mj. Yes he doesn't have multiple rings but what he can do on the.court is unbelievable and I'm a big a mavs homer as you'll see.

Great question. Some stats have been floating around that his Finals numbers are right up there with the all-time greats. He lost 2 years of his prime while Riley gutted the team to make room for 2010 free agency. He pretty much lost another year due to injury. Winning the title helps but I get the feeling that even if the Heat lose in 2006 and he put up the same great numbers he still doesn't take a hard hit to his image. He's in the Kevin Durant zone of being praised at all times without the burden of high expectations. Lebron takes all the criticism, but Wade will get the credit

Um, is this a commonly held belief?

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Is it already assumed that he's locked into the status of third best shooting guard of all-time based on his body of work?

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I always thought Jerry West was pretty much guaranteed third. I would rather have him than Wade.

West and Wade both have one championship and one Finals MVP. They're both +25/5/5 guys for their career. Both are/were great two-way players. The only reason Wade doesn't have more All-NBA recognitions is because of Kobe Bryant and/or injuries. Both have proven to substantially pick up their performances in the playoffs.

I've never seen Jerry West play. I can concede that. Seeing Dwyane play on television and in person is pretty amazing. If you watch him play a game in person and pretend that you know nothing about any other player on the court regardless of who is there, it'll probably take you five minutes to figure out he's the best player there. That's what I figured out when I saw the Heat play the Rockets at Toyota Center last December.

West won his title in 72 when he was past his prime kind of like Kidd would be now but he had some amazing battles going against the Celtics dynasty in the Finals

Wade is getting older and I don't think his body will hold up to his reckless style of play.

Wade is a very good player, but I can't consider anyone a top-5 guy that lives off of refs calling his flops. I can't think of anyone at any time that I'd consider a top-5 guy that flopped and lived off those calls so much. Stockton is the closest I can think of, but he was never considered a top-5 player was he?

I'd rather have Dirk than Wade. I'd rather have Rose than Wade. Durrant. Dwight Howard. I'd still take Kobe before Wade now if I wanted to win this year. That's five.

Wade's a good scorer and a good defender, but when he's not getting calls he's just a very good player, not an elite player. And in general isn't a top-5 guy now. And I don't think you could ever put him in that category in any year.

*Before the angry retorts come in, I'm not bashing either Wade or Stockton, just saying I don't think they're top-5 players and I don't think a guy can be considered a top-5 player if flopping is one of his big threats.

[This message has been edited by Frankie T (edited 6/10/2011 1:33p).]

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'd rather have Dirk than Wade. I'd rather have Rose than Wade. Durrant. Dwight Howard. I'd still take Kobe before Wade now if I wanted to win this year. That's five.

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Wade was the #1 SG this year.

#3 in the NBA in PER.


Dirk is probably the best overall offensive player in the league, but he is a poor defensive player.

Simmons weighs in...meh

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Dwyane Wade: If Miami pulls this off and he's the hero (our most likely scenario), that puts the following things in play historically: (a) "Kobe vs. Wade" becomes an argument; (b) any "clutch Finals players" list has to include him; (c) any "best player alive" argument begins with him first; (d) he has to be mentioned in any list that includes the best 20 players ever from that point forward; and (e) we'll remember him forever as an evil genius who somehow convinced his biggest archrival to move to HIS city, play for HIS team, and become HIS sidekick.

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the "injury" yesterday was a laugher to me.. the guy (and he's a great player no doubt) would alternate b/w grimacing and limping around (when things weren't going his way) and bouncing around with the I'm a badass face (if he made a play).

Hollywood is right.

As opposed to Haywood who is sitting out with essentially the same injury?

heavens, have you ever heard of adrenaline? I won't pretend to know one way or the other, but it's very possible that he was in pain but at times his adrenaline took over. In fact, that's more probable than just possible. I've rolled my ankle before to where it hurts like hell just to walk, but if I needed too, I could still run full speed.

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As opposed to Haywood who is sitting out with essentially the same injury?

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Yes, all bruises injure people the same.

I still don't know how Wade hurt himself. The injury is bruise on left hip, about where pants pocket would be.

When he charged Cardinal, the contact was to Wade's other hip and straight on. Left hip was untouched. Then he fell to the ground. Again, the front of his left hip never made contact with anything.

I think the injury came from Terry coming in from behind, after he ran into Cardinal, Terry came in from behind on his left side and maybe kneed him or hip checked him...at least that's what the replay showed.

As for his legacy, I agree it's hard to place him, he's generally an afterthought when it comes to players nowadays. He was kind of in between the old guard of guys like Kobe/Shaq/KG/Duncan/etc. and the new guard of LeBron/Durant/Rose....I think he's got another 3 or 4 years, barring injury, to put a couple of more titles and clutch performances under his belt. It's hard to try to write the legacies of LeBron and Wade until we see how this Heat team turns out over the next 5ish years.

I have little doubt that he injured/tweeked/bruised himself.

Like football-- the crazy hits a lot of timed are painless and then a seemingly benign play results in season or career ending injury.

Yea, I mean I've always been the first to joke that Wade was made of glass....but if you think the dude was going to sit out that much of a finals game to fake an injury, then you're just as likely to think that Stern paid him off to do it to boost the ratings and make the league more money

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As opposed to Haywood who is sitting out with essentially the same injury?

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Umm, not the same at all, actually.

Haywood has a hip flexor and Wade has a contusion.

But I don't want to get in the way of your attacking Dallas - you're having a nice, bitter 2 week run - so we'll call them the same.