Hornets.com’s 1-on-1: Miami’s Dwyane Wade, Tony Fiorentino
November 21, 2006
Hornets.com caught up with Miami guard Dwyane Wade and broadcaster Tony Fiorentino on Tuesday at the Ford Center.
Wade was the 2006 NBA Finals MVP and is arguably the league’s best player after just three-plus seasons. Fiorentino serves as Miami’s television analyst.
Miami guard Dwyane Wade
Q: What was going on between you and Chris Paul on the court during the game? It seemed like it was pretty competitive a couple of times between you guys.
A: Well, that’s my boy. We got very close during the World Championship games this summer. I look forward to playing against him in the future, against guys (like Paul) who I respect and love. It’s always very competitive between CP and I. Unfortunately for us, but fortunately for him, his team came out on top. But we’ll see them in Miami (on Dec. 18).
Q: What did Pat Riley tell the team after the game tonight?
A: We just have to have better performances. We have to stick together, that’s the main thing. We’re a championship team. We’re the champs. We’ve been through the ups and been through the downs, but one thing about last season was we never pointed fingers at each other. We know how it works, but we’ve got to get it doing. We’re a couple men down (due to injuries), but we’ve got to stick together.
Q: What is your impression of the Hornets, who are off to a great start at 8-3?
A: They are a very good team. They are much improved since they got Peja and Tyson Chandler down here. They have Chris Paul, who is a great point guard.
Miami broadcaster Tony Fiorentino
Q: Coming off the franchise’s first NBA championship, the Heat have struggled early, including a recent three-game losing streak with a blowout home loss to the Knicks. Is there any reason to be concerned by the start, or is it just a matter of getting Shaq back and turning it on in the second half like last season?
A: We didn’t have a very good preseason for whatever reason, and part of that was because Jason Williams was out. He’s our point guard, and he had a great postseason on the way to the championship, especially (in the East finals) against Detroit, when he made 10 shots in a row in Game 6.
So you’re going into the season without one of the best point guards in the NBA, and it’s kind of a domino effect. You have different guys playing different positions because of that. Last year the core eight players of this team only played together 29 games in the regular season, and went 22-7. But that group came together in Game 5 of that first-round series against Chicago, and from that point on they went 14-5 the rest of the way. So the key for the Heat is health. If they have their core eight guys on the floor, they have a great winning percentage.
The problem going into this season was Jason Williams missed the whole first two weeks of the season and just came back a couple games ago. That’s going to help. But losing Shaq is obviously going to hurt. The Heat had (just) a .500 record without him last year.
Q: What are the biggest keys or most pivotal players for the Heat to watch in the team’s attempt to win without Shaq for the next 4-6 weeks?
A: The problem it presents for the Heat is that Pat Riley is an inside-outside coach. He had Patrick Ewing in New York, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in L.A., and Alonzo Mourning here, and now he has Shaq. Without Shaq, they have to change their approach on how to score.
The year before Shaq arrived – which was Dwyane Wade’s rookie year – they didn’t really have a (conventional) center. They opened up the floor and let guys penetrate. They’re probably going to have to do something like that. When you have guys like Wade, Williams, and Dorell Wright off the bench, you can change the approach.
Q: This is a topic we wrote about on Hornets.com in the summer. If you were starting an NBA franchise right now, who would you take? Dwyane Wade or LeBron James?
A: The way I answer anything like that is this. If you ask anyone that from Miami, they will say Dwyane Wade. If you ask anyone from Cleveland, they will say LeBron. Because those guys are not only great players, but they’re also entrenched in their communities now. The face of this franchise is Wade now, obviously. It went from Pat Riley to Shaq to Wade. It’s frivolous to even try to debate who’s better, because each guy is unique to his franchise.
Q: A large percentage of NBA players say Miami is their favorite road city in the NBA to visit. How many points per game in homecourt advantage does the Heat gain due to South Beach?
A: You know it’s funny. Three years ago Wade was a rookie and we beat the Hornets in the first round. We played Indiana in the second round, and the Pacers blew out the Heat in the first two games (in Indianapolis). Then the Heat won both Game 3 and 4 in Miami. (Later in the series) I was watching ESPN, and they had Greg Anthony, Tim Legler and Stephen A. Smith on. The moderator asked the question, ‘How did the Heat win those two games after getting blown out in Indiana?’ All three said, ‘South Beach.’
The point I’m making is that sometimes (the Heat) don’t get enough credit for what they do because people want to (credit) it to other outside influences. I think every city has its outside influences, and you’re going to find them if you want to. Miami obviously (has many), but so does New York, Chicago and Los Angeles. But people like to make more of a to-do about South Beach than some of the other places.
Hornets.com caught up with Miami guard Dwyane Wade and broadcaster Tony Fiorentino on Tuesday at the Ford Center.
Wade was the 2006 NBA Finals MVP and is arguably the league’s best player after just three-plus seasons. Fiorentino serves as Miami’s television analyst.
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Q: What was going on between you and Chris Paul on the court during the game? It seemed like it was pretty competitive a couple of times between you guys.
A: Well, that’s my boy. We got very close during the World Championship games this summer. I look forward to playing against him in the future, against guys (like Paul) who I respect and love. It’s always very competitive between CP and I. Unfortunately for us, but fortunately for him, his team came out on top. But we’ll see them in Miami (on Dec. 18).
Q: What did Pat Riley tell the team after the game tonight?
A: We just have to have better performances. We have to stick together, that’s the main thing. We’re a championship team. We’re the champs. We’ve been through the ups and been through the downs, but one thing about last season was we never pointed fingers at each other. We know how it works, but we’ve got to get it doing. We’re a couple men down (due to injuries), but we’ve got to stick together.
Q: What is your impression of the Hornets, who are off to a great start at 8-3?
A: They are a very good team. They are much improved since they got Peja and Tyson Chandler down here. They have Chris Paul, who is a great point guard.
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Q: Coming off the franchise’s first NBA championship, the Heat have struggled early, including a recent three-game losing streak with a blowout home loss to the Knicks. Is there any reason to be concerned by the start, or is it just a matter of getting Shaq back and turning it on in the second half like last season?
A: We didn’t have a very good preseason for whatever reason, and part of that was because Jason Williams was out. He’s our point guard, and he had a great postseason on the way to the championship, especially (in the East finals) against Detroit, when he made 10 shots in a row in Game 6.
So you’re going into the season without one of the best point guards in the NBA, and it’s kind of a domino effect. You have different guys playing different positions because of that. Last year the core eight players of this team only played together 29 games in the regular season, and went 22-7. But that group came together in Game 5 of that first-round series against Chicago, and from that point on they went 14-5 the rest of the way. So the key for the Heat is health. If they have their core eight guys on the floor, they have a great winning percentage.
The problem going into this season was Jason Williams missed the whole first two weeks of the season and just came back a couple games ago. That’s going to help. But losing Shaq is obviously going to hurt. The Heat had (just) a .500 record without him last year.
Q: What are the biggest keys or most pivotal players for the Heat to watch in the team’s attempt to win without Shaq for the next 4-6 weeks?
A: The problem it presents for the Heat is that Pat Riley is an inside-outside coach. He had Patrick Ewing in New York, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in L.A., and Alonzo Mourning here, and now he has Shaq. Without Shaq, they have to change their approach on how to score.
The year before Shaq arrived – which was Dwyane Wade’s rookie year – they didn’t really have a (conventional) center. They opened up the floor and let guys penetrate. They’re probably going to have to do something like that. When you have guys like Wade, Williams, and Dorell Wright off the bench, you can change the approach.
Q: This is a topic we wrote about on Hornets.com in the summer. If you were starting an NBA franchise right now, who would you take? Dwyane Wade or LeBron James?
A: The way I answer anything like that is this. If you ask anyone that from Miami, they will say Dwyane Wade. If you ask anyone from Cleveland, they will say LeBron. Because those guys are not only great players, but they’re also entrenched in their communities now. The face of this franchise is Wade now, obviously. It went from Pat Riley to Shaq to Wade. It’s frivolous to even try to debate who’s better, because each guy is unique to his franchise.
Q: A large percentage of NBA players say Miami is their favorite road city in the NBA to visit. How many points per game in homecourt advantage does the Heat gain due to South Beach?
A: You know it’s funny. Three years ago Wade was a rookie and we beat the Hornets in the first round. We played Indiana in the second round, and the Pacers blew out the Heat in the first two games (in Indianapolis). Then the Heat won both Game 3 and 4 in Miami. (Later in the series) I was watching ESPN, and they had Greg Anthony, Tim Legler and Stephen A. Smith on. The moderator asked the question, ‘How did the Heat win those two games after getting blown out in Indiana?’ All three said, ‘South Beach.’
The point I’m making is that sometimes (the Heat) don’t get enough credit for what they do because people want to (credit) it to other outside influences. I think every city has its outside influences, and you’re going to find them if you want to. Miami obviously (has many), but so does New York, Chicago and Los Angeles. But people like to make more of a to-do about South Beach than some of the other places.
