D-WADE left off TEAM USA?

After a long search, I found this thread.

It's funny reading some of this now.

Wade is playing great but most of the comments I would believe the people would still stand by. THere was no reason to believe after two failed attempts that Wade would all of a sudden be able to play internationally. I know I for one praised Melo for being the best international player out of the 3 (Bron, Wade and Melo) and look at him now.

I'll admit I'm wrong after Team USA wins gold. Until then, I stick with my word.

I don't expect them to get fastbreak points (like they're doing right now) during the elimination rounds, therefore, they're going to need get their points other ways. That will most likely be perimeter shooting especially if inside scoring is unattainable.

If Team USA is put in similar situation such as the game against Greece in 2006, I don't see any reliable shooter who can help down the stretch. (fastbreak points, easy gimmes). They have Redd but do you really want to have him in a close game with his defensive inabilities? No way

You have to prepare for those type of situations and Team USA certainly hasn't. Players like Rip Hamilton, Mike Miller, Bruce Bowen, Jason Richardson, or Raja Bell would be ideal. They can all shoot the ball from outside along with playing defense.

Wade has been destroying opposing teams thus far in the Olympics. He's been hitting the outside jumper and attacking the hoop fiercely. When he gets a head of steam going towards the basket, it doesn't look like any of these international guys can stop him. The only knock on him is that I've seen him miss a lot of free throws. He's usually a decent free throw shooter, so I expect him to tighten the screws soon in that department. He's also been gambling a lot on defense, but for the most part it's been working. If it stops working, he needs to lock it up and play some real defense.

Other than those couple things, he's been great and has been playing very efficiently. I'm not a real D-Wade fan, but he has my stamp of approval so far.

yea
no idea he would turn out this good. complete 180

Wade has looked great in the Olympics, so far.

In fact, he looks a lot like Kobe, both in style of play and physical apperance.

I have often found myself confusing the two, which is kind of sad, but the truth, nonetheless.

halekulani wrote:yea
no idea he would turn out this good. complete 180

speaking of 180, wat happened to melo's international dominance, really regressed after the last 2 years.

Man was I wrong, Wade has been our best offensive player and one of our best defenders. I thought he would be unnecessary with having Kobe and the other guards, but they have used him as a 3 and as a 2 with Kobe at the 3 and it's worked great. I guess the injury really had slowed him down last year, he looks great right now.

Wade is the most consistent player right now in the olympics. Hes playing better than Kobe or Lebron.

D-wade will be top 5 in scoring this upcoming season book it!

feels good to be on the right side of the story...

Wade, unlike Kobe, Melo, Bosh and so on is not a volume shooter and his efficiency is really something that has helped this team to create huge demage with fewer possessions.

The truth is just that most Laker fan hate Wade because he is great and was said to be the best player in the league which was an insult to Kobe fans...

the truth is Wade is not the best player in the league but he is one of the best players in the league. But people on CL will just prefer to call him d-whistle and hate on him.

whatisit wrote:

halekulani wrote:yea
no idea he would turn out this good. complete 180

speaking of 180, wat happened to melo's international dominance, really regressed after the last 2 years.

the us runs a lot more transition (and a lot better too) making melo's 1/2 court set scoring abilities less needed

KB24@CL wrote:The truth is just that most Laker fan hate Wade because he is great and was said to be the best player in the league which was an insult to Kobe fans...

the truth is Wade is not the best player in the league but he is one of the best players in the league. But people on CL will just prefer to call him d-whistle and hate on him.

I disagree, I dislike Wade in the NBA because he's a flopper, an actor and he tries to get the foul before he'll try and make the shot and that's not how I like my basketball. I want to see scoring and good shooting, not a parade to the ft line, that's why I dislike his NBA game. I do agree that he's one of the best in the league though, that's got to be undeniable, just on talent alone he's one of the best, he looks top 3 right now, right behind Kobe and LeBron, or at least top 5.

Weezy wrote:Man was I wrong, Wade has been our best offensive player and one of our best defenders. I thought he would be unnecessary with having Kobe and the other guards, but they have used him as a 3 and as a 2 with Kobe at the 3 and it's worked great. I guess the injury really had slowed him down last year, he looks great right now.

Putting on that muscle is going to really help him. Dude is friggin' ripped now.

his cross over to left hand dribble drive is pretty much unstoppable wherever he does it

same goes for his hard right step, dribble back between his legs, jumpshot.sequence

Weezy wrote:=I disagree, I dislike Wade in the NBA because he's a flopper, an actor and he tries to get the foul before he'll try and make the shot and that's not how I like my basketball. I want to see scoring and good shooting, not a parade to the ft line, that's why I dislike his NBA game. I do agree that he's one of the best in the league though, that's got to be undeniable, just on talent alone he's one of the best, he looks top 3 right now, right behind Kobe and LeBron, or at least top 5.

Perfect summary.

Best player in the Olympics so far. No question.

I love Wade and I'm glad he's healthy and playing well, but I can't help but laugh when he thinks he's playing for Miami and pump fakes and falls to the floor with no whistle.

Booster wrote:I love Wade and I'm glad he's healthy and playing well, but I can't help but laugh when he thinks he's playing for Miami and pump fakes and falls to the floor with no whistle.

Yeah, I'd say he's the one that's been most affected by not getting "star treatment"

homerism/haterism is a helluva drug

I don't know why everyone is so surprised by Wade's performance in the olympics. It's not like he regressed as a player. He was hurt. Plain and simple.

When you have a player whose game relies heavily on athleticism and you take away that athleticism, it's not going to be a pretty sight.

But, he's healthy now and in top form. He's been rehabbing and training since the beginning of March and has the freshest legs out of anyone on the team.

I was expecting him to come out like gangbusters and to play his heart out...and he has.

THE_DAGGER wrote:I don't know why everyone is so surprised by Wade's performance in the olympics. It's not like he regressed as a player. He was hurt. Plain and simple.

When you have a player whose game relies heavily on athleticism and you take away that athleticism, it's not going to be a pretty sight.

But, he's healthy now and in top form. He's been rehabbing and training since the beginning of March and has the freshest legs out of anyone on the team.

I was expecting him to come out like gangbusters and to play his heart out...and he has.

Well, the last time he played in the Olympics he didn't exactly look great. His lack of a good jumpshot and reliance on getting calls going to the basket were real weaknesses. So I figured that would carry over still, I thought if you can't shoot then you're gonna suffer in international ball, but he's going to the hoop no problem right now and even making his outside shots. Still, there were some rough patches in the exhibition games, he was out of control on a few drives and charged right over guys. He got that out of the way though and now is beautifully sidestepping guys.

Weezy wrote:

THE_DAGGER wrote:I don't know why everyone is so surprised by Wade's performance in the olympics. It's not like he regressed as a player. He was hurt. Plain and simple.

When you have a player whose game relies heavily on athleticism and you take away that athleticism, it's not going to be a pretty sight.

But, he's healthy now and in top form. He's been rehabbing and training since the beginning of March and has the freshest legs out of anyone on the team.

I was expecting him to come out like gangbusters and to play his heart out...and he has.

Well, the last time he played in the Olympics he didn't exactly look great. His lack of a good jumpshot and reliance on getting calls going to the basket were real weaknesses. So I figured that would carry over still, I thought if you can't shoot then you're gonna suffer in international ball, but he's going to the hoop no problem right now and even making his outside shots. Still, there were some rough patches in the exhibition games, he was out of control on a few drives and charged right over guys. He got that out of the way though and now is beautifully sidestepping guys.

pretty much what I was going to say Weezy. I find it funny how people use hindsight as proof. There hadn't been any reason to believe Wade would be better this Olympics after his previous competitions with the US Team. The same can be said for Lebron neither one of those two showed any real ability to play internationally. On the other hand Melo seemed tailor made for it and yet he has struggled this time around.

I hate Wade...but he looks dominant in these Games

Weezy wrote:Well, the last time he played in the Olympics he didn't exactly look great.

The last time he played in the Olympics he was coming off his rookie season and was the 8th man in the rotation on the worst assembled US Olympic team ever that consisted of NBA players.

The last time he played on a US team in general he dropped 32, 12 more than the next highest scorer on the team, vs Argentina in the bronze medal game of the 2006 world championships. He averaged 19.3 ppg with a 57.6 fg% for that tournament.

Granted, he shot an abysmal 5 for 18 from 3 and struggled at times because he wasn't getting the same calls that earned him a Finals MVP that year (he still had the highest number of free throw attempts on the US team though).

Outside of those points and the fact that the team didn't take home gold, Wade actually played pretty good the last time he was in a USA jersey.

So, that's why I don't understand why people are surprised by his play this summer.

He's playing the same way that he's always played. He's still reliant on out running and out jumping the opposition.

While he's not flopping around as much for calls, he still gets to the line alot. (10 more free throw attempts than anyone else on the team.)

The only real difference is that Wade is making his 3 pointers for the most part. But, then again, LeBron shot lights out last year in the FIBA tournament and has seemingly come back to earth this year. Is Wade genuinely a better shooter now or is it just a hot streak?