Miami Heat's Dwyane Wade No Longer In Good Standings With NBA Officials

When Dwyane Wade envisioned teaming up with LeBron James and Chris Bosh, I’m sure easier opportunities were at the top of his “pros and cons” list. What probably wasn’t on his list was NBA officials ignoring obvious fouls by defenders.

For Dwyane Wade, NBA officials have made it clear that he is no longer in high favors.

This extremely noticeable and distasteful trend that is developing is stating Dwyane Wade will no-longer receive what is often known as “super-star-treatment.”

The results have already yielded four of the worst games in Wade’s illustrious career. Keep in mind that his Miami Heat team has only played 14 games.

Wade Has Reason to Be Upset

Only 13 games into the season for Dwyane Wade and he has already had six games where he has received six or fewer free throw attempts. That’s 46-percent of his games so far this season.

Last year, Wade only had the feat happen 17 times, which accounted for 22-percent of his games. Of those 17 games, nine were games where he played 33 minutes or less.

In the six games this season, he has taken 89 field goal attempts (82 officially recorded) but has drawn only 15 foul calls. That’s a percentage of 18 for a player who took 53 of his 82 official attempts in the painted area during those games.  

For the season, Wade has officially taken 126 attempts in the paint (166 unofficially) but has drawn only 40 foul calls while in the paint. Last season, Wade took 760 attempts in the paint and received 427 foul calls.

That’s a difference of 24-percent (31.7 versus 56.1) in less than a season. Yet still his free throw attempts per game are down, when logic would suggest that it would be up.

It’s rather remarkable that Wade has been able to keep his field goal percentage above 45-percent.

Dwyane Wade Needs To Take a Fine

To his credit, Wade has yet to take his displeasures public. However, it’s been extremely evident during games that he isn’t happy with the lack of calls he’s getting.

Some might suggest that Wade is averaging close to nine attempts per game and that anything more than that is “babysitting” a player.

If that’s your stance, might I simply point out that Wade is attempting 62-percent of his attempts in the paint this season! That’s an increase of 12-percent from last year.

To better paint the picture of Wade’s shot selection, one only needs to look at the fact that he has attempted seven-plus field goals in the painted area on 11 of his 13 games. Seven of those games had him at 10-plus attempts in the painted area.

Here’s a look at the number of field goals attempted in the paint for Dwyane Wade:

• Boston= 9x
• Philadelphia= 15x
• Orlando= 11x
• New Jersey= 4x
• Minnesota= 14x
• New Orleans= 10x
• New Jersey= 12x
• Utah= 13x
• Boston= 4x
• Toronto= 11x
• Phoenix= 8x
• Charlotte= 8x
• Indiana= 11x

The trend of the officials being selective with when and when-not to credit Wade with a foul doesn’t look like it will change anytime soon and because of this blatant disrespect of an NBA rule, Wade will continue to play frustrated.

In order for this to change, Wade needs to open his mouth and voice his displeasures, kind of like how Derrick Rose has been doing this season.

Sure, that kind of action will most likely lead to a hefty fine, but it also might lead to him getting the respect he has earned.

It would be even better if his head coach actually took a technical every now and then, as opposed to sitting on the sideline with that goofy-looking grin of his.

But that’s another topic for another time.