Miami Heat’s Dwyane Wade a long-distance shooting threat? It’s not far-fetched
Stop it, everyone.
Just stop.
Before this gets out of hand.
For once and for all and for the good of the realm, and the rim, Dwyane Wade is not a three-point shooter. Never has been, maybe wanted to be at one point, but he probably will go his entire career content with never being described on scouting reports as a long-distance threat.
The man formally known as “Flash” has no interest in being called “Fling” during the third act of his career.
Still, the questions came this week, and Wade entertained them. After all, he has made four whole three-pointers this preseason, or one for each of the Heat’s losses. Miami’s fifth preseason game is on Friday in Kansas City against the Golden State Warriors, a team with no shortage of long-range threats.
Meanwhile, the Heat lost a few three-point shooters from last season, so Wade has been doing his part to fill in the stat sheets in early October.
Wade packed away his three-point shot in some preservatives a few years back, apparently, and now he is breaking the seal.
“I kind of canned it the last couple years,” Wade said. “It’s there, and I can shoot it, so that’s it. I just canned it.”
Like summer tomatoes, or snap beans.
As a review, before proceeding any further, it should be pointed out that Wade, for his career, enters this season shooting about 28 percent from three-point range. Last year, he attempted 32 shots from behind the arc and made just nine. With that as the backdrop, consider carefully what Heat coach Erik Spoelstra had to say about his only remaining veteran wing attacker, who, on most nights, can also post up his defender with ease, shooting three-pointers.
“He doesn’t have to hunt for it, but he’s working on it,” Spoelstra said. “He’s going to have to take some perimeter jump shots to keep the defense open. … He understands that his primary responsibility for us is to be an attacker and draw two defenders and create offense for us.”
Translation: It’s the preseason, a time for careless three-pointers, random starting lineups and extra minutes for Shawne Williams.
“We feel once we get our full complement that we’ll have enough,” Spoelstra said.
On Thursday before the team left for the airport, Spoelstra made a point of lauding praise on Mario Chalmers, Danny Granger, Chris Bosh and, yes, even Williams for their three-point range when asked about replacing guys such as James Jones, Ray Allen, Rashard Lewis and Shane Battier.
“The team might be slightly different, but we do feel confident in our three-point spacing and shooting,” Spoelstra said. “[Chalmers] has proven to be a very good three-point shooter, particularly in clutch situations. We feel the same way about Norris [Cole], and [Bosh] has brought it to his game.
“Danny Granger has proven over the course of his whole career that he’s a great three-point shooter. He’s getting in tremendous work this whole training camp. … And Shawne Williams. Keep your eye on him. He is an excellent shooter and he’s in much better shape than he has been.”
As for Wade, mentioning him didn’t even seem to cross Spoelstra’s mind.
This story was originally published October 16, 2014 at 8:23 PM with the headline "Miami Heat’s Dwyane Wade a long-distance shooting threat? It’s not far-fetched."