Wade Plans on Returning
So, the Washington Wizards have more to be concerned with than just holding off the Miami Heat for the Southeast Division title. Now they also have to position themselves and make sure that they don't get the Heat in the first round. The Wizards do not want to see Dwyane Wade in the first round, but looks like some team most certainly will see him after Wade announced today that he will attempt to rehabilitate his dislocated left shoulder and return this season.
I completely understand why Wade felt that he should delay surgery, even though he really should call it a season and not put his career at risk. He's just 25, approaching his prime and has a good 10 seasons left in this league. But if the Miami Heat hadn't won the championship last season, if Pat Riley and Alonzo Mourning hadn't decided to return to defend the title and if the window for Riley, Mourning, Gary Payton and Shaquille O'Neal to win more championships hadn't been so close to being slammed shut, he likely would've had surgery last week, used his good arm to shake everyone's hands and wished them well.
"It could have been easy for me to just shut it down," Wade told reporters in Miami this morning.
But Wade is too loyal, too much of a competitor and too hungry for another ring to leave his teammates hanging -- even at a time when his left arm was dangling. Riley and O'Neal had no trouble taking care of themselves this season and forcing him to carry the team through an extremely difficult period but Wade isn't one to think that two, or three, wrongs make a right. He sought out a second opinion last Friday with specialist Dr. James Andrews and decided to give it a shot after Andrews and team physician Dr. Harlan Selesnik supported the idea.
Wade added that even with his plan for two to three weeks of rehab, his return is "no guarantee" (neither is the sun shining in the spring, but I'd bank on it). Considering the rough-and-tumble manner Mr. Fall Down Seven Times, Get Up Eight plays the game, Wade surely will have a difficult comeback. He added that surgery is inevitable. "It's tough, because I don't know if I can attack," Wade said. "But my body is my body; I'll find out after the rehab."
The Heat is 4-8 without Wade this season, but it has gone 3-2 since he collided with Houston's Shane Battier on Feb. 21. The Heat has benefitted from a resurgent O'Neal and a favorable schedule - back-to-back wins against the Wizards without Antawn Jamison and Caron Butler and Detroit without Rasheed Wallace (a day after Chris Webber's insane birthday party on South Beach) - in the past five games and has actually risen to seventh in the Eastern Conference.
I was prepared to say the Heat was finished after Wade left the court in a wheelchair, but the East is getting progressively worse -- so bad that two teams with 22 wins (Atlanta and Philadelphia) have even begun to use the word, "playoffs" - and Riley and O'Neal have too much pride to miss the postseason (O'Neal hasn't missed them since his rookie year in Orlando). No doubt, Wade has kept an eye on this situation. If the Heat had gone 0-5 in this stretch without him and appeared set for a collapse, he probably wouldn't have considered a second opinion. But if Miami can just get in the playoffs, anything is possible. "The fact that there's a possibility would give us hope," Riley said. "He's a pretty good player. He probably would be a pretty good player one-armed."
With Wade, don't count that out either.
By Michael Lee |
March 5, 2007; 12:33 PM ET
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Posted by: Mitch | March 5, 2007 1:16 PM
No doubt Wade is the key to a title chance for that team but that team has good players and is not a one man operation. The Wiz are certainly not a one man operation either but it seems that the Wade equivalent on the Wiz is Jamison and not Gilbert. Loved the ending of yesterday's game - Don Nelson got jobbed on the T. I don't know how many times it happens during a game but the Refs have been "verbally abused" by Coaches forever and usually they have ignored it. Why not last game is the key question. Don has never been a favorite of the refs.
GAR
Posted by: Bridgewater, VA | March 5, 2007 1:18 PM
I was under the impression that the doctors have told Wade he can't do any more damage to it. If in fact as Michael implies above that he could hurt it more/do permanent damage, then he is crazy to come back. If not, then why not try?
One reason not to try: if he waits until summer for surgery he won't be back on the court until December apparently. Really mortgaging next year for this one. . .
Posted by: charles jones | March 5, 2007 2:09 PM
Here is the problem with Wade coming back. He's going to favor that shoulder on both ends of the floor. And will be as willing to take the kind of beating he normally takes knowing what another hit to that shoulder will do. Oh well it's his career.
Posted by: George Templeton | March 5, 2007 2:25 PM
Charles Jones, I think the thing about shoulder dislocation is that each time it pops out the ligaments stretch more so eventually when they go in and repair it they have to shorten up the ligaments as part of the repair.
Kind of like an ankle that doesn't heal right after a sprain the ligaments get stretched. If he comes back and pops it out again he'll be in for a world of hurt.
Posted by: GM | March 5, 2007 3:19 PM
"One reason not to try: if he waits until summer for surgery he won't be back on the court until December apparently. Really mortgaging next year for this one. . ."
Agreed.
Bad, bad, decision and I can hear Riley speaking in his ear on this one.
Someone should tell him to go talk to C-Webb and find out what it's really like. He falls down again and it could get worse.
- Ray
Posted by: Ray | March 5, 2007 4:06 PM
It's a well thought out decision by DWade to give it a go. The Heat right now are surging, and because the Heat players are old, they have very precious little time to make another run. DWade should definitely try the shoulder out.
The benefit of this season is that most in the East Division are very mediocre. Orlando could make the playoffs today with at .468, which is sad. Compare the winning percentages of the division leaders in the East vs. the West. Next year, with free agency and the draft, things could be very different, especially with many east coast teams with very bad records (ie. Boston, Milwaukee, Atlanta, Charlotte, and Philly).
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/standings
Payton, Eddie Jones, Shaq, and Mourning are all around 35 or older. Antoine Walker is an old and slow 31. Nothing is promised next year, especially since the team can break up due to contracts expiring or players retiring.
Posted by: DC Man88 | March 6, 2007 6:51 AM
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My interest in D. Wade is about the same as my interest in Anna Nicole's funeral arrangements, but since you mentioned him, maybe someone can answer this:
If D. Wade, Carmello, and LeBron, the three saviors of the NBA, are as good as they're supposed to be, why were they beaten by a bunch of stiffs from Greece in the World Basketball Championships?