Sure Wade is another year older but he is only 32 and he's coming off a season where he averaged 19, 5 and 5 shooting 55% and netting a PER of 22. If you round his 4.6's and 4.7's up he has averaged 20+ points 5 rebounds and 5 assists every year of his career except his rookie season, 08 where he averaged 4.2 rebounds, and last year when he missed 20 ppg. His game has slowed and he'll always be an injury risk but being the second banana to Lebron he still averaged 20, 5 and 5 consistently. It's like people think Wade has fallen off the face of the earth when he is still capable of putting up good numbers and proves it by doing it.
A Bosh, Wade, Deng trio might not be number one in the east but there is no reason to think they won't be fighting for home court advantage come playoff time. And with their playoff experience they could easily be a ECF contender.
Wade played 49, 69 and 54 games the last 3 seasons, averaging 3 to 5 minutes less than he usually had before that, and he STILL looked physically shot at times over the last two years. That, and the fact that they lost their team leader in points, rebounds, assists and steals, is why folks doubt the heat.
Mike
How many games has Derek Rose played in the past three seasons? People have no problems claiming the bulls will contend. Why should Wade and the heat be any different?
At At the end of the day it doesn't matter who they've lost...it matters who they have now, versus who their opponents have. By no means are they favorites, but they shouldn't be ignored either. With Lebron gone, Wade may well put up 24/6/6 and reestablish himself as an elite superstar. When you can score 19 on 55% shooting, then giving him a bigger role could easily see him put up 24 on 47% shooting.
There still isn't another team in the east with a better two-way trio than Bosh, Wade, Deng. If it's true that defender wins championships, then Cleveland have no hope Haha