Wade is an open book: He wants nothing but winning. He’s tasted it before — taking down a championship and an NBA Finals MVP in 2006 — and he wants more. Wade will be 28 next month, and he’s at a pivotal point in his career. After three years of trying and failing to bring the Heat back to the promised land of the Finals, he has a decision to make. He can either bear down now and commit to making the Heat a contender, or he can jump ship and try to find a better situation elsewhere next summer.
Whether he’s staying or going isn’t clear. All we know is that Wade wants to be competitive wherever he goes.
“I’m just about winning,” Wade told HoopsWorld’s Chris Perkins this week. “For me, I’ve been blessed in my life so far to have the riches I have right now. Going forward, if I’m blessed to have another big contract and have riches, no matter what the number is, I’m blessed. So, to me it’s not necessarily about the dollars and cents. It’s about winning and making sure every year I can compete.”
It’s unclear whether staying in Miami will be good enough to quench Wade’s competitive thirst. The Heat haven’t been past the first round of the East playoffs since that magical 2006 run, and at 13-11 this season, they look headed for another mediocre finish.
“I want to be in Miami and I’m sure our team is going to do everything in our power to make sure we are a winning team,” Wade said earlier this month. “But at the end of the day, we have to do it. People have to come and want to be in Miami.”
Nothing builds winning teams like winning teams. In other words, the Heat need to win in order to attract the kind of talent that can keep them winning, and at the moment, that doesn’t appear to be happening.
Eventually, Wade will get fed up and walk. He’ll try to find a better situation, one where he has a shot at contending for a championship. There aren’t many teams out there with both the talent to build a contender and the salary cap room to pay Wade next season. It’s a really difficult combination to come across.
The Knicks and the Nets both have a couple of young rising stars and a ton of cap space — by signing a pair of marquee free agents, say Wade and Bosh, either of those squads could become competitive down the road. But that’s a tall order for a GM in one summer. By making a blockbuster trade, the Lakers could put Wade in the same starting five with Kobe Bryant, pumping new blood into a dynamic L.A. franchise. But the Lakers pulling that off is unlikely.
Another team that could pull something off could be — brace yourself — the Celtics.
Here’s what we know: Ray Allen, the Celtics’ current starting two-guard, is in the final year of his contract. He’s making just under $19 million in Boston this season — that’s a lot of money coming off the books this summer. And over the summer, he turns 35 — not the right age to pull down another monster contract at this stage in his career. The Celtics might look to get younger, and Wade could be their guy.
It’s not just Allen. Brian Scalabrine, Eddie House, Tony Allen, J.R. Giddens and Marquis Daniels all have expiring deals as well. All in all, we’re talking about nearly $30 million in payroll coming off the books just in time for the free-agent frenzy.
It’s surprising that with all the hype surrounding the upcoming free-agent season, we’ve heard so little about Boston. The Celtics are big-time contenders every year, and they’re about to have plenty of money to spend. So how could Boston not be a prime free-agent destination?
Especially in the case of Wade — who talks not about money, not about fame, not about the “global icon” status that King James wants out of life — the Celtics deserve to be in the conversation. If it’s only about winning, then it’s about Boston.
The Celtics have a chance to compete for a championship this summer. And quite frankly, the Heat do not. If that’s not enough to sway Dwyane Wade, then nothing is.
