NBA: The East Should Be Afraid

Written by: Joe Buckley | Hoops4life.com

The East is trembling. Detroit and Boston especially.

The conference has just stepped into the boxing ring with both feet tied together and a big target on its nose, wincing at the opponent staring at them from the other side of the ring.

They’d thought he was down.

They’d thought he was done.

But Dwyane Wade is back.

Hear that? That’s the sound of 14 teams collectively saying ‘Shit!’ If you are following Team USA’s travels (if you’re not I highly recommend you start) you will see Dwyane Wade appears to have given up on the ‘trying to lead the league in turnovers and make an entire city cry at once’ thing. He seems to be heading back to the Wade that we knew and loved. I loved Dwyane Wade and Miami in 2005 and 2006. Their championship run and motto of ’15 strong’ were invigorating, crushing the Pistons and completing one of the biggest Final comebacks in history.

We know what has happened since then. We know how far Miami has fallen and no one knows more than the man himself how much this is to do with Dwyane Wade. He became the opposite of what he was renowned for. And his franchise followed.

But we’re not here for that.

As I mentioned, Dwyane Wade seems to be returning. You may have seen his highlight dunks and spectacular play for Team USA (Again if you haven’t, I recommend it), and it seems like he is like his old self.

His teammates have taken notice and mentioned how much better he is looking now, and ‘Flash’ himself has said this is the best he’s felt in the last two years and that this is the healthiest he has felt since lifting the trophy. And as mentioned previously, it seems to be showing. And this glimpse gives hope to the folks of south beach, and shows terror to the rest of that half of the country.

Now, of course these highlights do come against teams that aren’t as good as some NBA teams. And it is easier for him on a team surrounded by All-stars, so these glimpses of a reformed Wade should be taken with a pinch of salt.

But come on.

We don’t like to do that do we? We want to take this and run with it, and start claiming Wade will be winning rings galore. I won’t go that far, but two years ago the NBA was leaning heavily on the Marquette star and the question was even being raised whether Wade was better than LeBron. Now that he is back...or potentially at least. Ok the Big Diesel is gone. In fact most of that championship is either gone or have deteriorated to the point where they are barely relevant. Dwyane is coming back into a very new situation. New coaching staff, new players and a new position in the standings.

Miami now has Michael Beasley, a prodigy in his own right. Of course it is way too early to actually say what will become of Michael, it could go either way. He has an abundance of talent and is physically imposing in the same way as Lebron and has the skills to match it. Right now, it seems like he does not have the work ethic or intensity to match his talent, but as I say, it is far too early to judge this kid. They also got a steal in Mario Chalmers, one of my favourite guards in all of college ball last season. He showed how valuable he could be during the summer league. And of course there is Shawn Marion, his stay in Miami may not last long, but assuming it does, we know what he is capable of.

The Heat has a strong base of players now, a collection of young talent. Still, they will go as far as Wade takes them. Only the grind of the season will show us if Wade can survive and prosper all the way through and possibly the playoffs. I’m not expecting too much from the Heat this season, but they should be able to contend for at least the 7th or 8th spots, and if things go their way they could probably go as high as the 4th seed, obviously depending on what happens in the rest of the league.

Dwyane Wade can destroy a team single-handedly.

He is one of those few that can very easily simply take over a game, and win it by himself. We saw him do it in game 3 of the NBA finals in 2006. We saw him do it to Detroit. We’ve seen countless highlights. And those are starting to return possibly.

I mentioned that we cannot expect too much from him and his Heat this year. But looking forward... assuming Wade stays healthy for the most part.

I’ve said before that the Wade-Beasley era of Miami should prove fruitful. They are simply too good not to, and they have a good core around them and should be able to add to that in the coming years. South Beach is always an attractive venue for free-agents.

They should be the newer version of Kobe-Shaq.

Of course, the East is getting stronger, but they are simply part of that.

The last great comeback we saw was Amare Stoudamire, but Wade’s is bigger than that, he was bigger when he went down, he’ll be bigger when/ or if he returns to the top. It will mean more.

Of course for now, Dwyane is concentrating on securing a nicely-coloured medal, as he should be. But when the team returns, we shall begin to see just how far Dwyane Wade has travelled on the comeback trail.

Whether he reaches the top now or in the future, let us merely hope he gets there.

Hear that? That’s the sound of Dwyane Wade knocking teeth out of the Eastern Conference.

This article is also posted at Hoops4Life.com, a basketball fan's site.