thegreenmagazine.com78 August 2009

in his absence. Naturally, Wade was the scapegoat as his team was swept out of the first round in the 2007 NBA Playoffs and failed to make the 2008 postseason with an appalling record of 15-67. Seasons are defined by statistics. That same ledger is often used to deter-mine who enters the hallowed-halls of Springfield. Yet, the will of a champion is incalculable.

“I put that on my faith and my be-lief. Even though I had some injuries, I know that everything happens for a reason and I kept believing,” Wade says about his motivation while on the road to recovery. “But also, I worked my tail off. I put in the hours at the gym to re-ally build my body back to full strength. I worked with my trainer, Tim Grover, in Chicago and with the Heat’s trainers in Miami. They pushed me past what my body probably wanted to go, but it was what I needed.”

Wade’s devotion and diligence guid-ed him up the rough side of the moun-tain and prepared him to display his new and improved game on the world’s greatest stage—the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. Wade seemed to be another name on a Team USA roster that read like a marquee: James, Bryant, Anthony, Paul, Howard—all led by Duke Coach Krzyzewski. Unfazed by the shine his teammates received, Wade decided to let his actions define his presence.

The fashion in which Wade trans-formed a lightning quick drive along the baseline against Angola into a dou-ble-pump, reverse dunk showed that he had regained that elusive step. His steal and one handed alley-oop to Kobe, while falling out of bounds, against Greece proved that Wade’s supernatu-ral court vision was still intact. China’s Yao Ming was posterized while trying to deny his forceful layup. The German defense could only watch the same f lu-id moves that made Dick Vitale name Wade ‘a Baryshnikov in shorts’ during

his college days at Marquette Univer-sity. Wade’s arching jumpers rained all over Spain’s parade in the Gold Medal Final. His performance won over most of the published cynics and fair-weath-er fans, but Wade’s true joy stemmed from a greater purpose.

“The respect that you get for playing for [Team USA] is amazing,” Wade ex-claims. “The fact that so many people stayed up late to watch us play shows that the country really supported us. And to lift that Gold Medal above your head is truly a dream.” The spoils of the Summer Olympics only set the bar higher for Wade’s performance in the upcoming 2008-2009 NBA season. From the season’s opening tip, this was Wade’s year of resurgence. His 30.2 ppg average crowned him the 2008-

2009 NBA Scoring Champion (first in franchise history) and led his team to a 43-39 record securing the fifth seed in the playoffs. This was his first full year back since becoming a champion in 2006. The illuminating figures such as Shaquille O’Neal and Alonzo Mourning that helped to mold Wade into a leader were gone. Now, he had to instill the game’s core values into a new team. Two of the faces were rookie sensations Ma-rio Chalmers and Michael Beasley.

“I just want those guys to be better,” Wade maintains about the developing skills of Chalmers and Beasley. “I think that their experience of playing this past year has helped them both. From what I heard, they’ve been in the gym working to be better at this game. And that’s all you can ask of young guys.

38 October 2009 thegreenmagazine.com