MIAMIHEATWAVE.com: Wade's Return: The Visual

There are a lot of people out there asking questions about Dwyane Wade's return and how much he will actually help the Heat.

In his return last night Wade had 12 points on 3-9 shooting, he was 6-12 from the free throw line and he had 8 assists to 6 turnovers. In other words Wade's return was what it was, rusty. Nevertheless, Wade is back.

But what exactly does this mean? What can we expect from Dwyane Wade now that he has returned from his left shoulder injury?

In a word: more.

I watched the game last night and happened to catch the announcement - Dwyane Wade was dressing up and getting ready to play. Of course, this sent a shockwave throughout the internet as we here at MiamiHeatwave.com scurried in all directions to let the rest of the Heatian brethren know what was going to happen.

What I want to do now is take a look at some of the photos from last night's game to give visual evidence of what we can expect from DWade. Offensively and defensively, there are things Wade will resume doing and things he won't. On both ends of the floor, it is key to see how he handles his recovery - both physically and mentally.

Is His Shoulder Ready?

Shooting

First of all, Dwayne's left shoulder was the one that sustained the injury. This is not his shooting hand and this should have nominal effect on his shooting. However, he was not hitting shots at the usually high efficient rate that we are accustomed to seeing from Wade. Still, like with any sport, playing in practice is different than playing in a game. Once Wade gets his rhytmn back, and his shooting, he will be fine.

Still, here is an example from practice. Kapono is leaning on him and Wade is using his left shoulder to create seperation from his defender to protect the ball. We saw this last night on a couple of occasions, but admittedly Wade was tentative. Later Wade did take some bumps and tumbles in that game against the Bobcats.

Dribbling

Again, although Wade is right handed, dribbling with his left and driving to his left is a part of his game. It is no mystery that you force Wade to his left and you have a chance at making him less effective. Still, Wade has refined his game to the point that that is no longer a truism; Wade can effectively create offense by driving to his left. So, can he do it?

Yes.

The above picture was taken at practice and clearly shows Wade using his left hand to dribble around defenders. He has the same explosiveness with his drive that defenders cannot keep up with. The key is for Wade to create hesitation in the mind of his defender at which time he can go in either direction and the defender's lateral footspeed is not enough to matchup with Wade's first step. Here is an in-game example taken from last night's return against the Bobcats.

So Wade has the ability to shoot, as his left arm will offer very little as an obstacle since he is a right handed shooter, and with his dribble it is clear that he can still dribble and drive to his left if he needs to.

What about driving? Can he penetrate off his dribble and get inside and finish?

Driving and Penetration

This is an excellent snapshot of why Wade's recovery should not be discounted. His game is instinctive in that he is basically programmed to play a tough, physical style of basketball where he will attack the rim at will. He utilizes excellent footwork along with great athleticism, vision and expectations in order to create and finish plays. One of his patented moves is to dribble drive towards the basket by getting his man out on the perimeter, approaching slowly and then after his hesitation locks up his defender, he drives towards the center of the lane. If there are defenders he has an uncanny ability to spin towards the middle and put up a layup or some other aerobatic manuever to score. This requires him to spin across the lane, and usually a defender will try to poke the ball lose, this will generate contact for Wade and usually draw a foul, much to the ire of the defender, his coach and the bench.

What we see here is that very attempt by Wade and the subsequent foul he drew. Why this is important is that it shows Wade's game is so instinctive that he won't think about how he plays, but will just go out and play and not entirely be fearful of the injury. His tentativeness, as we shall see, seems to be more reserved for the defensive end of the floor and not so much on the offensive end.

Here is a better example:

The biggest fear for this injury, rather the biggest obstacle to overcome, is the mental aspect of it. As for the physical difficulty, Wade lifting his left arm over his head was probably the most painful part of the rehab. His ability to drive down the lane and finish must allow for him to use either arm to finish with and in this example he can show he has no fear to drive and that he can and will use whichever arm in order to create his shot.

There are a couple of other pieces of evidence that I cannot locate at this time - for example, Wade his a turnaround jumper in the lane. It was one of his patented dribble, stop, and pop moves where he uses his footwork to create seperation and attempt a turn-around, fade away jumper. He made the shot which shows his confidence was there also because it was coming down to the end of the game.

Overall, Wade took the ball to the hoop on several occasions, sometimes drawing contact to shoot free throws (FTs). The fact that he got 12 FTAs (free throw attempts) also shows he had no fear on the offensive side of the ball.

On the defensive side of the ball, there were several times where Wade was just standing around instead of crashing for a rebound or boxing out his man. Wade was never the best defender on the court although he has the raw tools to become an all-league defender. Ironically, he admitted that he would "cheat" with his arms and not use his feet as much to defend. Perhaps this will force Wade into using his feet more to matchup and guard his opponents instead of just settling for gambling in the passing lanes or trying to block shots while help defending.

There are still some hurdles to overcome for Wade, but it does seem he is feeling pretty confident about his shoulder on the offensive side of the ball and since his game is mostly instinctual, there won't be much hesitation on his part.

He also has 5 more games to fine tune things before the playoffs.