Dwyane Wade is Tired of Losing

Last season, the Miami Heat was a promising, young, talented team. During the season, Dwyane Wade established himself as a star of the same caliber as Kobe Bryant. The young talent around him was also able to prove itself, at times. Despite being an average team, Wade’s Heat did notch wins against the Magic, Lakers, Cavaliers, and Celtics. The promise of last season was expected to be fulfilled this season, it has not been.

Ever since the 2007-2008 season, it has been no secret that the Heat were going to try to land a big-name free agent to its roster. Pat Riley, the team president, said that Dwyane Wade was on board with this plan. But, during that same season, injuries to key players saw the Heat post a league-worst 15-67 record. The next season, Wade was finally healthy, but the talent around him was not what it used to be. He had an MVP-caliber season, but the Heat’s record held him back.

At the beginning of this season, Miami came out with all cylinders firing. They won six of their first seven games, the best start in their franchise’s history. Pat Riley had devised a back-up plan to the 2010 free agent market to keep Dwyane Wade happy. His back-up plan was to work some magic during the 2009 offseason. With Carlos Boozer unhappy in Utah, Riley planned to trade some back-up players and use the cap space to sign Lamar Odom.

The overall plan was to keep Dwyane Wade happy by surrounding him with Carlos Boozer and Lamar Odom, while retaining Jermaine O’Neal and Michael Beasley. Odom had said that he was going to sign with Miami, but in the end, he returned to his defending-champion Lakers. When the deal with Odom fell through, so did the dream team that would have also included former scoring champion and MVP, Allen Iverson.

After the ‘dream team’ did not come to be, Erik Spoelstra, the head coach of the Heat developed an idea for the team to grow from within. Jermaine O’Neal had stated that he regained the explosiveness that he had during his days with the Indiana Pacers. Also, the coaching staff reported that Michael Beasley would develop into a star. Mario Chalmers, the surprise of the previous season had also been said to have become a three-point shooter.

The quick start turned some heads, but in the end, it was revealed to be nothing more than a quick start. Their “heat” has fizzled away and Miami now sits at 25-27, barely within playoff contention. For a player as great as Dwyane Wade, this has to be hard, knowing that his teammates are not doing what they can to help him out. As the losses mount up, Wade could very well be in another jersey, competing for a NBA title, with another team.