From the Nov/Dec 2006 issue of Hoop.

Before we get into what Dwyane Wade's summer was like—winning an NBA Championship and the NBA Finals MVP award, securing a bronze for USAB at the FIBA World Championship in Japan, etc—let's take it back a couple years.

NBA All-Star 2004 in Los Angeles. What Dwyane Wade did that weekend reveals as much about him as anything he accomplished in Japan, in the '06 playoffs, at Marquette or in high school. Given the chance to lounge poolside at the Chateau Marmont or stroll the warm sand in Malibu, Wade instead attended the NBA Retired Players Association Luncheon. Why? So he could meet, compliment and pay respects to the assembled legends of the game.

Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, Bill Russell, Oscar Robertson, Rick Barry, et al—one by one, Wade sheepishly approached and introduced himself to the game's demigods. And the assembled greats were impressed.

This moment crystallizes why this young man has captured the imagination of basketball fans from Biscayne Bay to Sapporo. He's a spectacular athlete, yes, but it's his sense of humility, his humble vibe, that is so attractive. In our celebrity-crazed culture, Wade stands out as much for his low-key, respectful nature as for his otherworldly talent. His NBA success seems to be as much a surprise to him as it is to us. There's no sense of entitlement with Dwyane; we share his wide-eyed wonderment.

Even while accepting the Finals MVP trophy, Wade was quick to acknowledge his teammates.

"Udonis—he's my MVP," Wade said of forward Udonis Haslem, who had the unenviable task of hounding Dirk Nowitzki throughout the Finals, and set many of the picks that freed Wade.

It must be tough to remain humble when you've earned some of the highest honors the game can bestow by the age of 25, but Wade has somehow managed to keep an even keel. Given where he came from and how he got here, it's not hard to see why.

WHO IS THIS KID?

O-Editor Eddie Johnson on Wade:
Wade has what I call a three-pronged attack. He can drive, pass and shoot. He has an uncanny ability to split the defense, find an opening, elevate and score the basket regardless of how tight the defense is. He also is adept at finding teammates in scoring positions while under heavy duress. This forces defenses to be hesitant and allows Wade to get easy attempts at the hoop.

What really makes Wade unstoppable is his devastating mid-range jumper—and that is why the first two skills I mentioned work so well for him.

People wonder why he does not attempt a lot of three-point shots; it's hard to shoot the three when you like to catch the ball in your range at 15 to 20 feet from the basket. This is what made Michael Jordan, Elgin Baylor and Rick Barry such great scorers. Wade seems to be in that class.

As a high school sophomore, Dwyane Wade was just another gangly 5-8 kid on the bench of the H.L. Richards High School squad. Even after a four-inch growth spurt and a 27 ppg average his senior season, he wasn't ranked as a top five Chicago high school player or top 100 nationally by the various scouting services. His high school games certainly weren't on ESPN and, in fact, his Marquette games were rarely televised to a national audience.

Dwyane Wade, potential NBA star, didn't emerge until mid-February 2003, when he and a scrappy point guard named Travis Diener1 took Marquette on a beautiful postseason run that culminated in an Elite Eight destruction of Kentucky. Wade posted a memorable triple-double (plus 4 blocks) in that game, taking the Warriors to their first Final Four since 1977, and serving notice that he had real pro potential.

"He had a meteoric rise," says TNT analyst and two-time NBA champion Kenny Smith. "He came out of nowhere. He wasn't on the AAU circuit with everyone saying, ‘He's the next.' When he got to college, he wasn't that perennial first-team All-American. He had a great last year there—and then he just exploded in the NBA. It shows you the value of hard work and it shows you that titles like ‘the best 7th grader in the country' don't mean anything. Some of the best players in the country, you've never heard of them."

While Wade certainly dreamt of playing in the NBA, he didn't expect it. Moving on from high school to college, from college to pro, were blessings in themselves; just arriving was cause for joy. Without the white-hot media glare, Wade was able to develop incrementally, to stay humble and stay hungry.

"Every player is different," Smith says. "Some guys do better with the spotlight on them, some guys fade in the spotlight. Dwyane is one of those guys that developed better without it. LeBron (James) thrived in the spotlight when he was younger. Now, Dwyane is learning to thrive in the spotlight."

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BONUS PTS:

1. Diener plays just up the road in Orlando, so the two will get a chance to reminisce six times this year.