Remember when we were talking about Dwayne Wade being MVP?

Tyler on 05 4, 2009

The regular season scoring champion, Dwayne Wade, was expected to continue his one man juggernaut show in the playoffs. Wade also averaged 2.19 steals a game and 7.5 assists. He put MVP worthy stats up all year with his team’s inability to put a consistent effort keeping him from winning the award. As these playoffs continue we are seeing the exact reasons why the Lebron-Wade comparison isn’t nearly as close as we thought it was.

Lebron and Dwayne both are the leaders of their respective teams on both sides of the court. They are one and two in scoring while averaging around 7.5 apg(D wade at 7.5 and Lebron at 7.2). They are also the focal points of their offenses, with their ability to consistently create chaos for the opposing defense with each individual being their teams’ number one offensive option(while the Lakers differ with their ability to use Kobe in a “if all else fails” strategy). On the flip side, they both provide an example through their actions on the defensive side with Wade averaging an incredible 2.19 steals a game and 1.34 blocks and Lebron averaging 1.69 steals and 1.15 blocks(usually of the spectacular into the third row type).

The difference was thought of to be just the lack of a supporting cast for Dwayne Wade. Considering that the Heat now have Jermaine O’Neal, a past All-Star, who is definitely a worthy big man combined with Udonis Haslem, who brings athleticism as well as very good medium to short range jump shooter, their frontcourt definitely provides enough talent and firepower to make them a legitimate contender. At the point guard position Mario Chalmers is young, but is not new to the big game scene with his clutch three last year to push underdog Jayhawks past Memphis. Also Chalmers provides ample range in order to stretch the floor a bit for Wade. James Jones has provided 10 ppg from the small forward position while shooting an amazing 60% from downtown. The individual parts of this team clearly show the potential to be a legitimate contender, but they lack those intangibles necessary to make that leap.

These intangibles are exactly the difference between Lebron and Wade. Lebron gives a swagger to the Cavs that is just nonexistent on this Heat team. Lebron is the active chatty defensive leader that invigorates his team to make those crucial stands necessary to win playoff games and series. I don’t see that from Wade. Wade’s overall stats have decreased( 26.4 ppg, 1 spg, 1.4 bpg, 6.2 apg) this playoffs which is definitely not a characteristic of that special kind of superstar. The difference in these two player’s games reflects their personality styles, with Lebron being the jovial, charismatic type and Wade being more subdued and introverted. Remember Shaq was that personality for the championship Heat team. Until Wade finds a way to escape the comfort zone that his personality puts him in and transcends to a higher level like that of Lebron, these two players will always remain separated, with Wade’s inability to bring his team to that top tier still evident(… Kobe syndrome).