Wade OK with role off bench in return
‘I just want to win,’ former All-Star says as he starts second Miami stint.
Dwyane Wade knows he can help the Heat, and the Heat know Wade can help them.
But in what role? That’s still to be determined.
“I have no idea. That’s a good thing about this,” Wade said, with the Heat in the middle of a three-day break before facing the Raptors in Toronto on Tuesday.
have a good team and being 36 and being a veteran, I understand what I can bring the game.
“I’m not really concerned with it. I’m not worried with it. So whatever coach asks from not only me, but all of us to do, that’s what we have to do if we want to win. We
just all have to be selfless. So Dwyane Wade will be selfless to make sure whatever it takes for this team to win, that I can hopefully bring.”
In Wade’s first game back in a Heat uniform Friday, he recorded three points on 1-of-6 shooting, two rebounds, two assists, two steals and two blocks in 22 minutes in a bench role. With Miami lacking a true backup point guard, most of Wade’s minutes came when starting point guard Goran Dragic was on the bench in the Heat’s 91-85 win over the Bucks.
Out of the 22 minutes Wade played, only one came alongside Dragic. Instead, coach Erik Spoelstra staggered the two veteran playmakers to allow Wade to facilitate the offense with Dragic on the bench.
And although Friday marked just the 11th time Wade has come off the bench as a member of the Heat, he’s now comfortable in this role after playing as a reserve in 43 of 46 games with the Cavaliers this season.
“I finally got into a groove,” he said. “I had to learn how to get prepared for a game coming off the bench. Today in the locker room, 17 (assistant coach Juwan Howard), he asked me if I wanted hot packs. We were sitting in the locker room, I was like, ‘No, there’s no need for it right now. But I’ll get it when I get on the bench.’
“But the way he looked at me when I said, ‘No I don’t need it,’ because I’ve adjusted to coming off (the bench). So, for me, I like it. Right now, my career with the time I’matand the point I’m at, and if something happens and coach needs me to get in there to start for a game or two and calls my number, I’ll do it. But I’m definitely comfortable with it.”
Spoelstra made it clear that Wade’s role will continue to evolve.
“We’ll talk. That’s the thing about it. It’s not two strangers sitting at the table,” Spoelstra said. “We probably could finish each other’s thoughts as we start any conversation. I’m going to let it happen organically initially. We’re not fully healthy right now, so some of the answers are not readily available to us right now on what the rotation will be. Right now, it’s just about everybody contributing. We’ll figure out an exact rotation as some point. Let’s figure out winning right now.”
A starting role is possible for Wade, especially with starting shooting guard Dion Waiters out for the season after undergoing left ankle surgery. Tyler Johnson has received the majority of the starts since Waiters went down, but he entered the year as Miami’s sixth man after averaging 13.7 points, 4.0 rebounds and 3.2 assists in 73 appearances off the bench last season. The addi- tion of Wade could allow Johnson to return to the bench, or Wade could just become the Heat’s new sixth man.
“I just want to win, man,” Wade said. “At this point, I want to come here and be a part of these guys. As I talked about it a little bit yesterday, just to see from afar to see the development of Josh Richardson, to see Goran be an All-Star at this level, to know what (Hassan) Whiteside is capable of with 20-20 nights, to be a part of all that … It’s not my job to coach and say where I should be. Coach will figure out where I fit in and how I fit in, and I just try to be the best in the role that’s presented to me either way it goes.”
But one topic is impossible to avoid — Wade’s minutes will come at the expense of another player. Spoelstra played nine players in Wade’s first game with the Heat, but the rotation decisions will get even more challenging when Kelly Olynyk and Rodney McGruder return from injury.
“You have to understand when you’re coming to a new team, there’s somebody whose minutes have gone down because of you,” Wade said. “That’s 22 minutes that I played and somebody else didn’t. So, I respect that and I understand that and I just want to be my best for that because I have taken a few minutes from someone else.”