The NBA has found a new star in the face of Miami Heat defender Dwayne Wade. PRO Sport Magazine looked at Wade impartially and found that he was falling, alas, no less than he was flying.
The role of the new Michael Jordan has been aggressively tried on many different players for many years. But one did not have an explosive first step with the ball, the other did not know how to hang in the air, the third behaved on the site like a chain dog, and beyond it - even worse. The last time they tried to assign the title of “New Jordan” to LeBron James, but as soon as Dwayne Wade stepped out of the shadows, the crown of the Cleveland striker was taken away and unanimously presented to the Miami defender.
Wade is a rare all-rounder. He defends and attacks, acts perfectly on the perimeter and under the ring, uses dribbling and the power of the body to beat the enemy. To better understand its exclusivity, you need to look at the number of free throws performed by him.
The number of free throws determines how often a player throws a ring at close range. To throw out of the ring, the defender must pass four opponents from the line of the three-point throw due to dribbling, despite the fact that these players are usually higher and more powerful than him. He has to use his strength and jumping ability to overcome this palisade of bodies. This is the only way to throw the ball or earn a free throw. Last season, Wade earned them exactly 820, even Shaquille O'Neal, who, thanks to the mass, made it easier to catch an opponent on a foul, entered the direct fire line much less often.
This is largely because the Miami defender is a typical representative of an old-school defense player. Those who played when the concept of a “three-point line” did not yet exist, and which wise gray-haired fans love so much. The train of thought of the Old Believers is simple: why throw from six meters, when you can throw from two. And Wade is one of these, perhaps because he was born in Chicago and throughout his entire conscious life was rooting for the Bulls, led by Michael Jordan. And how then not to compare him with him?
“Athletic physique, throwing in a jump with rotation, passages with a ball under the shield, leadership qualities are identical,” advocates of the appearance of the new messiah categorically declare.
- How can you compare them ?! - exclaim witnesses of six victories in the championship of His Highness. - For starters, Michael was taller. Then, they play completely different roles in their teams: Wade is an attacking defender, and Jordan was actually the third forward. Then, Jordan has always been a clear leader of the team, and Wade is helped by equal players, and, finally, arguing about the strength of Michael and Duyen is like equating an older and younger brother - let the younger one grow up first.
But even if, as a result, the Jordan-one-only-forever-ever side takes over, the opponents will not be upset. They will go buy another T-shirt with the number "3" and the name Wade on the back, which will allow him to even more break away from competitors in the competition for the best-selling T-shirt. They will wear Wade’s personalized Converse sneakers and a shirt from former rapper Sean Komb, whose model has recently been Wade. In extreme cases, they simply turn on the TV, where in the popular David Letterman show no, no, and their idol appears. Basketball America, waiting for a new idol, now simply creeps at his feet.
The NBA needed just such a hero. When David Stern and his colleagues composed the rules of conduct for their players ( do not use massive gold, do not use the word “ f ...”), it seems that they were guided by the image of Dwayne Wade. The Miami leader rarely attends social parties, spends his free time with his family, does not drink, does not smoke, does not have a tattoo on his body, is married to his school sweetheart, Sivan Fances, and does not even seem to know what the word “ f ... ” means ". What can I say, he chose the third number on the shirt in honor of the Holy Trinity and donates ten percent of his annual salary of $ 3.03 million to help one of the temples of his native Chicago. In other words, he plays a courtyard game, but does not possess courtyard habits - an ideal image for promoting basketball among low-income Americans.
When the Miami Heat selected Wade in a draft under the modest fifth for his current status, he received in one person a first-class attacking defender and a modest guy who was ready to sacrifice his popularity rating in favor of teammates. Regularly becoming a lifesaver, Dwayne nevertheless managed to maintain an equal relationship with everyone, which in the NBA filled with ambitious personalities was incredibly difficult, and, moreover, made true friends - peers of Wade Caron Butler and Lamar Odom. The moment of truth for testing Duane’s team qualities came in the summer of 2004, when the Hit management decided to exchange. Miami acquired center Shaquille O'Neill, sending Butler and Odom to the Los Angeles Lakers. Wade was outraged. Yes there! He was furious. Wade did not understand where his team was going. True, this rage had a typical Wade cut.
“I am not very pleased with the situation,” he said in an interview at that time. - I would like to understand the criteria of our transfer policy. I have lost my friends.
Fans of "Miami" held their breath in anticipation of the scandal, but then they breathed out in relief with relief. It took Shak several days in Miami to sing in a interview a line from the Queen’s song, which he had previously dedicated only to himself, “He's the greatest in the universe!”, In response to a question about Wade and clarifying the name of the composition - Flash (“Lightning” "). So, with the light hand of an inveterate specialist in matters of spontaneous promotion, Wade got the nickname Lightning.
And before the start of the training camp, O'Neill with some apprehension, as he later admitted, dialed the number of the main star of his new team. In response to the greeting on duty, he heard a whole speech about the need for respect for senior comrades, team spirit, unity of actions and similar human values. “He spoke the truths,” Shaq was surprised a little later, “but he did so with the words that I had no doubt that that person could not lie.” After the conversation, Wade introduced a new partner in the phone book under the name BIG, who in response identified him as small.
Thus began the partnership-friendship-cooperation. Inexperienced in the affairs of show business, Dwayne took Shack as a mentor, and he taught the young comrade how to properly submit himself in interviews, which advertising contracts to conclude, and which to be feared, like lying women and evil dogs.
Psychologically unstable Shack in his spare time from games and training thanks to Dwayne learned to think about the eternal and to maintain self-control at the decisive moments of matches. But the main winner in the end was the Miami Heat.
After the merger of the two opposites in one composition, the team began to win.
The apotheosis of the celebration was the final series of the playoffs-2006, which entered the top ten league finals in history. In a confrontation with the Dallas Mavericks, Pat Riley won his fifth championship title, O'Neill - the fourth, and Wade - only the first, but no one had any doubt who contributed to the victory most clearly. After the first two lost matches, the attacking defender of Miami took the floor. In three subsequent games, he made 38 of the 77 shots from the game and made 52 free throws, including two decisive overtime in the fifth meeting, which were already mentioned above, and then added another 36 points in the sixth last game. His mastery of himself became especially important because the passions in the finals gradually reached their maximum - Jerry Stackhouse’s attack on Shaquille O'Neill, foul language of the owner of Dallas Mark Kuban against David Stern right during the fifth match and the mistakes of the judges twisted the nerves of the participants in strong knot. However, having left the site after the fourth match, even Mr. Political Correctness, from which you usually rarely expect fiery speech, could not resist.
“It seems to me that they meant that I don’t know how to throw in the ring,” Wade said when he was hinted that the Dallas players, knowing about his inability to throw in the jump, constantly allowed him to do this. - So be it, but then why do they even stop me from throwing!
He had reason to lose control a little. Dallas reserve guard Darrell Armstrong encroached on the sacred the day before:
- This guy earns fouls in situations in which Michael Jordan would not throw a judgmental glance at the judge. He jumps, loses his balance, we don’t even touch him, and then he gets on the line of free throws! Incredible. What is the NBA doing? Rating? Are we talking about this?
Alas, in the words of the substitute there is some truth. Particular attention to protecting the stars from any encroachment by the opponent - together with a dress code for players and promoting a healthy lifestyle - an important part of the new league policy. Therefore, the religious, philanthropic Wade is guaranteed a lifelong indulgence in simulation, disqualification and notation. And we will never know whether he really became the new Michael Jordan or whether it is the leaders of the league who sell it in well-recognized packaging.
Text: Alexey DEMIN
Details of Wade’s biography, his comparison with Kobe Bryant, as well as a story about how Duane brought the Miami championship title, can be found on the PRO Sport magazine website in the article “Fine and Accurate . ”