Why Does Dwyane Wade Always Get a Free Pass from Media?

It’s time for the media to stop bowing down to the Miami Heat's Dwyane Wade.

He is not the player, or person, that so many outlets project him as.

Before I dive too deep, let’s make this clear: I’m not a D-Wade hater and don’t intend to go on a smear campaign, but the facts need to be presented.

Wade has managed to skate away from any sort of blame for the end-of-game woes suffered by the Miami Heat, and has recently received plenty of praise for letting off the gas pedal to ensure LeBron James is the No. 1 option on the team.

Yet in the two occasions this postseason when the Heat have found themselves in do-or-die situations, Wade has received the ball—and missed both times.

First it was in New York, where he foolishly held onto the ball despite losing the handle and settled for a wild fadeaway by the three-point line.

Brick. Knicks win.

On Tuesday night with under 20 seconds remaining and the Heat down two against the Indiana Pacers, he made a strong move to the basket but completely botched the lay-up.

A Mario Chalmers missed three later and the Pacers win.

Blame LeBron James all you want for allowing this to happen, but how does Wade continue to duck criticism?

Because of a long and rather legendary approach to dealing with the media that dates back to winning a championship in 2006.

A Slam Dunk With the Media

In that infamous ‘06 postseason, Wade strapped the Heat onto his back and drew foul-after-foul en route to shocking the favored Dallas Mavericks. It was a Jordan-esque performance and basketball fans fell in love.  

In the public eye, he never said anything that would ruffle a single feather. He got it when it came to what to say, when to say it and because of his graciousness and willingness to do it.

The media never hassled him.

When ex-business partner Richard Von Houtman made allegations that Wade and childhood friend Marcus Andrews made it clear the only goal in their life was to “have sex with as many women as possible” and that they routinely held orgies with marijuana, the story was swept under the rug.

Von Houtman had no bad blood with Wade, and didn’t have a motive to slander the Heat star. His response when asked why he continued to associate with Wade perfectly illustrates why No. 3 has been able to skate past any sort of controversy (via Sports by Brooks):

"

I got sucked into doing business with him because he has a first-class media persona, the new Michael Jordan. He was that good guy, father-of-the-year, celebrity who had his head on his shoulder. I found out after a year he was not like that.

"

Wade was named father-of-the-year right before allegations from his ex-wife, Siohvaughn, surfaced that he gave her an undisclosed STD and had abandoned her and their two kids (via page2live.com).

While none of the allegations were ever proven to be true, it wasn’t exactly the most pleasant of stories. None of the major media outlets ever covered this.

Wade ended up winning custody of his two kids, and was able to sweep everything under the rug rather quickly.

The Decision

Meanwhile he was scheming one of the most controversial plans in NBA history.

Everyone blames LeBron for his “decision” but there is no doubt Wade was the guy that was recruiting James. He was chirping in his ear about South Beach and all of the incredible opportunities that would come with teaming up.

You could make the argument that James is to blame for today’s Heat roster—yet that is certainly not how history will remember it.

Deteriorating Production

On the court, Wade’s scoring average and assists have decreased in each of the last three years, culminating in 22.1 ppg, and 4.6 assists this season. He hasn’t posted numbers this low since his rookie year back in 2003-04.

Critics will immediately bring up how Wade deferred to LeBron during the regular season. Point taken. But how do you explain his 22.6 pppg and 4.0 apg through seven playoff games? How to you explain an 18 percent shooting mark behind the arc?

How to you explain these outlandish comments directed towards the Pacers after Indiana’s 78-75 Game 2 win (via Fox Sports Florida):

"

I heard they wanted to be like the Dallas Mavericks, in a sense. I saw their little celebration at the end of (Game 2). I don't know if they didn't expect to win, but every night we go out on the court, we expect to win.

"

After the way Miami celebrated against Dallas in last year’s NBA Finals during a game, making comments like this are asinine and make him sound like a hypocrite.

In the same game, he delivered a vicious flagrant foul that could have really injured Darren Collison. He deliberately lowered his shoulder and seemed intent on hurting the opponent. Naturally, Wade wasn’t suspended or fined.

The play was eerily similar to one that got Hornets’ forward Jason Smith suspended two games for drilling Clippers’ forward Blake Griffin.

And remember when Wade broke Kobe Bryant’s nose at the All-Star game in February? Another free pass from the media even though it was an incredibly aggressive move for an exhibition game against the face of the league.

Conclusion

There is no doubt Wade is one of the top 10-to-15 players in this league and a seemingly very nice guy in front of the camera, yet the free pass he has received throughout his career has been incredible—and one of the most bizarre anomalies to come around in sports in quite some time.

We need to realize that Wade isn’t as clutch as he’s portrayed to be, is a declining player that always has some sort of nagging injury, and may not be the squeaky clean person that the media—and league—portray him to be.

LeBron can’t win, Wade can’t lose and that’s not fair.

The two extreme opinions most people have of the two should be much closer to each other than they currently are, and I’m not sure if things will ever change.

Blame the media.

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