Dwyane Wade | Larry Brown Sports

Dwyane Wade nicknames himself ‘Wow’, LeBron James does not approve

February 26, 2013 By Steve DelVecchio 1 Comment

Dwyane Wade has come up with a new nickname for himself, and at least one of his Miami Heat teammates does not approve. According to Ethan J. Skolnick of The Palm Beach Post, Wade would now like to be referred to as “WOW.”

The acronym stands for “World of Wade,” and I think LeBron James can speak for all of us in saying that it is not cool.

“It’s ‘WOW,’ Way of Wade,” James told the media. “I think it’s corny.”

D-Wade didn’t exactly come up with it on his own. His new shoe company, Li-Ning, is using the slogan “Way of Wade” as a tagline for promoting its products that are endorsed by Wade. However, the Heat star is the one who would like to be called “WOW.”

“I’m taking it global!” Wade said enthusiastically after catching some ribbing from LeBron.

The only thing worse than a bad nickname is a bad nickname that you come up with on your own. When coaches make fun of players by giving them nicknames like this, at least the player has no control over it. If you ask me, D-Wade is a fine enough nickname where Wade doesn’t need to go around calling himself “WOW.” This just further confirms why I don’t like the guy.

H/T SLAM Online via Eye on Basketball
Photo: Derick E. Hingle-US PRESSWIRE

Filed Under: Basketball Tagged With: Dwyane Wade, LeBron James, nicknames

Dwyane Wade kick at Metta World Peace gets Mortal Kombat treatment

February 10, 2013 By Larry Brown 1 Comment

We’ve talked in the past about Dwyane Wade being a dirty player, and he was up to some of his old tricks on Sunday. During a fourth quarter possession against the Los Angeles Lakers, the Miami Heat guard drove to the basket, went up for a layup, and was fouled on the play. Wade did a kick with his leg toward Metta World Peace, as if he was trying to create more space for himself. He didn’t appear to actually make contact with Metta, but the move led to this great screencap via @cjzero:

Wade was caught in a kicking pose looking just like Liu Kang from Mortal Kombat. Naturally, the screencap led to this fantastic photoshop job by @DanWeiner:

Excellent!

Filed Under: Basketball Tagged With: Dwyane Wade

Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh benched for 4th quarter; Wade has Jazz fan kicked out

January 15, 2013 By Steve DelVecchio Leave a Comment

Dwyane Wade appeared to have a particularly frustrating night on Monday as the Miami Heat lost to the Utah Jazz. In the third quarter, a Jazz fan apparently got under Wade’s skin so much that he asked arena staff to have him removed from the game. Miami was trailing by 20 at the time, and Wade watched the entire fourth quarter of the 104-97 loss from the bench.

He was not the only star who was not given a chance to contribute down the stretch. Erik Spoelstra also decided to bench Chris Bosh for the final quarter, only bringing him back in for a meaningless 40 seconds to close out the game. Spoelstra went with a lineup of LeBron James, Joel Anthony, Rashard Lewis, Ray Allen and Mario Chalmers for more than 11 minutes in the fourth. Why?

“(They) seemed to have enough pep in their step,” Spoelstra told reporters after the game, via the Palm Beach Post. “They turned that deficit around so quickly, that it was really an easy decision to keep them in there during the middle of the fourth quarter. Then you’ve got to make some tough decisions down the stretch.”

[Read more...]

Filed Under: Basketball Tagged With: Chris Bosh, Dwyane Wade, Utah Jazz

LeBron James on Lakers: ‘No one will ever compare to what we went through’

January 11, 2013 By Steve DelVecchio 5 Comments

The Miami Heat successfully silenced an enormous amount of critics by winning an NBA championship last season, and they don’t want any of us to forget about it. Because of their slow start that has followed incredibly high offseason expectations, the Los Angeles Lakers have drawn a number of comparisons to the 2010-2011 Heat. According to LeBron James and Dwyane Wade, the two situations are hardly alike.

“No one will ever be able to compare what we went through,” James told the Miami Herald on Friday. “Even though they’re not winning and they’re losing a lot of games, it’s still nowhere near what we went through. Yeah, right. That level of magnitude was nowhere near where ours was two years ago. Nothing. Nothing compares to it.”

Wade agreed wholeheartedly.

“Because of everything that happened in 2010 with offseason signings, it was, automatically, just a lot of negative things that was said about us,” Wade said. “(Los Angeles) didn’t go through that at the beginning. They didn’t go through anything negative about bringing those guys together, so ours started off bad and it stayed bad for a while, and then we got better.”

In a way, the Heat stars are right. LeBron was referred to as one of the greatest players of all time but had no championship hardware to show for it, so that pressure loomed over Miami. Kobe Bryant could use another ring to better his legacy, but he hardly needs it. The mystery of whether or not LeBron would be able to win his first ring created an enormous amount of pressure in itself.

However, the Heat players brought on much of the pressure that they faced last season and the year before. You didn’t see L.A. throwing any type of Three Kings introduction party when they acquired Steve Nash and Dwight Howard. It makes sense that the Heat want everyone to know they overcame more obstacles than any team in NBA history, but let us not forget that they brought much of it on themselves by acting like jackasses.

H/T Pro Basketball Talk
Photo credit: David Butler II-US PRESSWIRE

Filed Under: Basketball Tagged With: Dwyane Wade, LeBron James, Los Angeles Lakers

Monta Ellis: I would put myself in the same category as Dwyane Wade (Video)

December 30, 2012 By Steve DelVecchio 2 Comments

Monta Ellis and Dwyane Wade are both guards. They both have more than seven years of experience in the NBA. Both men have led their teams in scoring. While there are a number of characteristics that make the two similar, very few people would argue that Ellis is nearly as good a player as Wade. Ellis is one of those few.

During a recent interview that Pro Basketball Talk passed along, Ellis said he would put himself on the same level as Wade.

“To be honest, I would put myself in the same category as D-Wade,” Ellis said. “I mean, at the end of the day, the only thing that he has that I don’t have is more wins and two championships. That’s it. As far as playing at the same level? Competing every night? Both ends? Shooting inside and outside? Fast break? Transition? Monta Ellis have it all.”

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Filed Under: Basketball Tagged With: Dwyane Wade, Monta Ellis

Dirty Dwyane Wade kicks Ramon Sessions in groin (Video)

December 27, 2012 By Larry Brown 107 Comments

Dwyane Wade may be the sneakiest dirty player in the NBA. Wade has a clean-cut image that obscures how unsportsmanlike he behaves on the court.

Wade doesn’t just do what he can to win; he will actually injure an opponent if he has to. We’ve seen that time and time again. His actions on Wednesday were just the latest in an alarming pattern of dirty plays he’s committed.

During the Heat-Bobcats game on Wednesday, Wade kicked Charlotte guard Ramon Sessions in the groin for absolutely no reason:

Don’t even try to tell me that was accidental. Wade did it intentionally probably figuring he could get away with it — and he did. He was not called for a foul.

“I thought he did it on purpose,” Sessions said after the game.

What’s scary is that Wade pulls this type of move constantly. Remember Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals in 2011 when Wade pulled down Rajon Rondo, resulting in a dislocated elbow?

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Filed Under: Basketball Tagged With: Dwyane Wade

Miami Heat players hold moment of silence with their children (Video)

December 15, 2012 By Larry Brown Leave a Comment

The Miami Heat held a moment of silence prior to Saturday’s game against the Wizards to recognize those who were murdered in Friday’s massacre in Newtown, Conn., and they added a personal touch.

Many of the Heat players were joined by their children for the moment of silence as a way to show how personally connected they felt to the tragedy.

“Very emotional time,” LeBron James said after the game. “(Dwyane) Wade brought [the idea] up. We all thought it would be the best thing to do. Not taking anything for granted, knowing that we have our family still. Very emotional time and to have our kids out there was great.”

“The team is very close, and we all have kids. So everyone’s affected by it,” added Wade.

James told reporters before the game that a horrific event like that places life in perspective.

“Basketball, this is nothing,” James said. “These games are nothing compared to when you have a tragedy like that. It sucks that sometimes you need a tragedy to put things back in perspective, to appreciate what you have. But it does that to people. It’s unfortunate that you have to have something like that to understand what’s really important and some things that aren’t important at all. Family is the No. 1 important thing in life.”

Wade and James, who are the team’s leaders and among the most visible stars in the NBA, actively tweeted about the massacre on Friday:

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Filed Under: Basketball Tagged With: Dwyane Wade, LeBron James, Miami Heat, Newtown