Cleveland, OH (92.3 The Fan) – Dwyane Wade plays in Cleveland for the final time on Friday night. The 37-year-old has 22,592 points in his 16-year career.
Wade scored 513 of those points for the Cavaliers last season. He signed a minimum contract in hopes of winning another championship with LeBron James. Instead, he was traded after 46 games and watched the Cavaliers lose to the Warriors in the NBA Finals for a second-straight season. No one would argue that Wade would’ve changed the outcome last season, but he could’ve made the run more enjoyable than it was. It may sound crazy, but the majority of the roster didn’t want Wade to sign in Cleveland.
“I still know what he’s capable of doing. Why wouldn’t you want another guy in the locker room that brings a championship mentality and a guy who can still play?”
Wade was traded last February, which was an awkward conclusion to his short time in Cleveland. Head coach Larry Drew acknowledged the friction in the locker room last season.
“Being in a situation when you have a lot of talent and some guys not able to play the amount of minutes that they want to play – I thought that was a little bit of a situation with him here,” Drew said on Thursday.
Dwyane Wade is 3-6 from the field with 8 points, including this pretty AND ONE‼️ pic.twitter.com/DZzFSSMm5I
— James Rapien (@JamesRapien)
October 18, 2017 That shows how different the Cavaliers are just one-year later. Last season they had veterans complaining that a future Hall of Famer was getting in the way of their playing time. This year they’re hoping to compete on a nightly basis. It’s amazing how different things are.
“He’ll always go down as one of the better two-guards in our league,” Drew said. “His ability to get to the basket, his ability to draw fouls – just his overall presence. I thought he was really good for us. It’s unfortunate that he wasn’t here long. I enjoyed coaching him. I really enjoyed coaching him. I enjoyed picking his brain while he was here.”
“I thought he did a really good job, the short stint that he was here.”
It would’ve been interesting if Wade stuck around. He could’ve helped the Cavaliers in the playoffs. Cleveland fans missed out. They didn’t get to cheer for the James-Wade duo when it mattered most. It would’ve been cool to see Wade and James make one final playoff run together.
Let’s play the ‘what-if?’ game – Can you imagine if James and Wade played for the Cavaliers in their prime? It would’ve been amazing to see. You may think Kyrie Irving and James made a better tandem, but Wade is a 12-time All-Star, NBA Finals MVP and he averaged 30.2 points-per-game in his prime. He’s a bigger star than Irving. It’s a shame Cleveland didn’t get the full James-Wade experience. You probably know what happened in Miami from 2010-2013 – the duo went to four-straight NBA Finals and won two championships.
The first Cavaliers game I attended was on March 8, 2009 to see James and Wade
play against each other. Cleveland won the game 99-89. No one knew the two would become teammates – first in Miami and then in Cleveland.
When Wade was signed last October, the Cavaliers added a highly skilled veteran who was past his prime. ‘Flash’ was capable of great moments, but he wasn’t the same player who helped the Heat win three championships.
In an alternate universe – maybe on Earth two – James and Wade would’ve won multiple championships in Cleveland. Instead, they were in a Cavaliers’ uniform together for 46 games.
Cleveland will say goodbye to a legend on Friday. It’s a shame his run in this town was short-lived.
