Butler and Wright Go Back to School

Dwyane Wade at the 2004 Olympics

Johanna's Gallery

He could have easily taken some time off. Lord knows, he earned it.

Dwyane Wade had just elevated an entire franchise and keyed a surprise playoff run, so yes, it would have been well within his rights to politely decline the invitation to Athens.

But Wade doesn’t work that way. He may be just 22, but he is about as old-school as a 22-year-old can be.

Other NBA stars might have been busy with wedding plans or vacations, but when Wade got the call from USA Basketball officials to represent his country in the 2004 Summer Olympics, he didn’t even have to think twice.

“It’s a tremendous honor to be a part of representing your country,” said Wade after he was selected as one of 12 members of the 2004 USA Senior National Team. “You are representing the red, white and blue.”

So, less than two months after capping a brilliant rookie season by leading the HEAT to the Eastern Conference Semifinals, Wade went overseas.

And came back to the States with a mountain of memories, a world of experience and an Olympic Bronze Medal.

“It was great to be a part of, especially the opening ceremonies,” remembered Wade. “Sometimes you’ll look, and see the jersey, and say, ‘Man, I’m on the Olympic team. I’m playing with guys I grew up watching.’”

Not only did Wade get to play with established NBA stars like Allen Iverson, Tim Duncan and fellow phenoms like LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony, but he also got to spend time with fellow U.S. Olympians in Athens, which he calls “an amazing place.”

“I went to a couple of boxing events, some track events,” said Wade. “I went to all the women’s [basketball] games that I could. It was all cool.”

It wasn’t always all cool for Wade and his U.S. teammates, who struggled with shot-making on the perimeter, foul-trouble in the low post and criticism from all corners of the earth.

“I enjoyed playing with those guys,” said Wade. “Our big guys did as good a job as they could. The quick fouls that we got hurt us. With the FIBA rules, the international game is hard for us to play. It’s still basketball, but there’s certain things you have to be aware of. We let a lot of refereeing get to us, and we just didn’t go out and play.”

The U.S. went 5-3 in Olympic tournament play, enduring losses to Puerto Rico (92-73), Lithuania (94-90) and Argentina (89-81). But in a Bronze Medal Game rematch against the sharpshooting Lithuanians, the much-maligned Americans came up big, posting a 104-96 win.

Wade played a highly efficient 16 minutes in that game, scoring 9 points and handing out a game-high 6 assists. “I enjoyed that game, because we could have just gave up, but we went out there and competed, and we won a medal,” said Wade, who averaged 7.3 points, 2.4 assists and 2.5 rebounds in just 17.5 minutes a game throughout the tournament.“It wasn’t the one we wanted, but it was a medal.”

When Wade took the medal stand following the tournament, a whole range of emotions overwhelmed him.

“There was a lot going through my mind,” said Wade. “I think at one point, I was excited that we had come out and won the game. But I was kind of mad that we didn’t win the gold. It was kind of mixed emotions, but we got a medal. We came a long way. We can hold our heads up high.”

Wade did, and the HEAT should be better off for it. Under the tutelage of Detroit Pistons head coach Larry Brown, the long-limbed Wade worked diligently on improving his defense. He led the U.S., and finished second in the Olympic tournament, with 2.13 steals per game.

“My role was to be a defensive player, try to be a playmaker as much as possible,” said Wade. “For the most part, I think I got better defensively over there. Hopefully, I can just continue to improve.”

The Olympic experience also proved to be a nice sendoff for Wade and former HEAT teammate Lamar Odom, who was sent to the L.A. Lakers as part of this summer’s blockbuster trade for new HEAT center Shaquille O’Neal.

“It was great, man,” said Wade. “I think that was a good closing for both of us.”

That closing now turns to an opening for a new era in HEAT history. When O’Neal was introduced to an adoring Miami at his now-legendary press conference, he called the HEAT “Dwyane Wade’s team.”

Wade found that one particularly amusing.

“I laughed,” said Wade. “It was funny to me like it was funny to everyone else. It was just Shaq showing his personality, showing his respect to a team that he’s coming to that has an identity. It’s all about team. I think that’s why he wanted to come here. That’s what the HEAT is about.”

If it sounds like Wade is enamored with the HEAT, it’s because he is. The team took a chance on the former Marquette University star with the fifth pick of the 2003 NBA Draft, and he responded by averaging 16.2 points, 4.5 assists and 4.0 rebounds to finish third in Rookie of The Year voting behind Cleveland’s LeBron James and Denver’s Carmelo Anthony.

Then, after helping spark a late-season surge that put the HEAT in the playoffs for the first time in three years, Wade took his game to another level, becoming the only rookie in HEAT history to lead his team in postseason scoring (18.0 ppg) and posting seven 20-point games – the most by a rookie since David Robinson in 1990.

Wade said several of his Olympic teammates talked about the HEAT’s playoff series against New Orleans and Indiana, and that he, James and Anthony formed an especially strong bond.

“What we talked about was us being the future of the NBA,” said Wade. “I don’t think any of us have got a problem with that. We can all be friends like Michael [Jordan] and [Charles] Barkley and all them guys. Hopefully, we can be the ones to keep the torch going in the NBA. It’s exciting. The sky’s the limit for all three of us.”

With Wade teaming with a refocused O’Neal to form what figures to be the Eastern Conference’s most dynamic, dominant inside-outside tandem, the sky could be the limit for the HEAT as a whole.

And that, more than anything, has Wade itching to get the 2004-05 season started.

“I’m very excited,” said Wade. “I think it’s going to be great things to come for this team. It’s going to be good.”

For Wade, it always seems to be good. He has accumulated a world’s worth of basketball adventures over the past 18 months, traveling from Milwaukee to Miami to Athens, moving from shooting guard to point guard, evolving from Final Four headliner to NBA phenom.

But as great as it’s been for Wade, it’s also an awful lot to absorb. So you’ll excuse Wade if he has a bit of a hard time digesting all the details.

“It’s all like a blur,” said Wade. “It’s been going like that constantly since I went to the Final Four at Marquette. It’s going good, and I want it to continue to do that.”

That shouldn’t be a problem.