Former NBA player Carmelo Anthony was on his podcast “7 PM in Brooklyn” with comedian The Kid Mero where they talked about Miami Heat legend Dwyane Wade. Anthony and Wade are known to have a long friendship with one another, as well as with LeBron James and Chris Paul.
Anthony said on the show that he believes there is a lack of respect for Wade in terms of how he played and what he has accomplished in his career with the Heat organization. He even goes as far as to say that Wade is “arguably the best 2-guard in the league at one point.”
“I don’t think people understand how bad of a motherf***** D-Wade was… I’m saying it with this much passion because you don’t hear that name come up much in basketball amongst this younger generation. So it’s like nah, ya’ll are buggin’. This was within the last 10 years. How the f*** y’all just erasing that… He was a bad motherf***** man,” Anthony said. “He was probably the best at shot creation ability. The way he created shots in the paint, floaters, one-handed, taking contact behind the back. There weren’t guards that were athletic like that at his size… Arguably he was the best 2-guard in the league at one point in time and people felt that…He deserves his flowers man so big shoutout to Miami, for the first statue. Let’s hope that shit don’t melt!”
It's still Wade County.
New episode dropping tomorrow at 1pm ET! pic.twitter.com/1o5M8ZDk0J
— 7PM in Brooklyn (@7PMinBrooklyn) January 17, 2024
Anthony says that Wade impacted the game in many ways besides scoring
Besides being friends off the court, the two faced against each other at a ton of points throughout each season as the Heat would face the New York Knicks during Anthony's stint there from 2011-2017. In their careers, the two have faced against each other 31 times.
There is no doubt that Anthony loved the way Wade played basketball as he explained that he can impact the game in a multitude of ways besides scoring. He points out the people that compare the play styles of Wade and the late, great Kobe Bryant, but Anthony stressed that they aren't comparable.
“Playing against him, I had to figure it out because again, I didn’t know what game he was bringing. He could get buckets but didn’t have to get buckets to impact the game. So he’s impacting the game every other way, getting putbacks, backdoor cuts, free throws. So now you look up and he’s not really doing nothing but he got 16 points at the half,” Anthony said. “I’ve grown to really, really, really love D-Wade’s game… to a standard where I appreciate his game and then you start realizing there’s not too many motherfuckers that are like that. You want to compare the Kobes and the D-Wades at the time but it’s totally two different games. You can’t tell me another motherfucker compared to D-Wade.”
Wade getting a statue in front of the Kaseya Center
Wade was just celebrated by the Heat last Sunday against the Charlotte Hornets for his induction into the Naismith Hall of Fame last year. During the halftime festivities where he was interviewed, President of Miami Pat Riley came out and surprised the former star with the announcement there will be an eight-foot tall statue of Wade outside the Kaseya Center.
“Pat [Riley] kept that in his pocket. Pat is the godfather for many reasons. I was standing right next to Caron [Butler]. He had the same reaction as me. Just goosebumps and I was like ‘whoa, I definitely wasn't expecting that.' You know, he comes out with the bobblehead, didn't know where he was going with that. He dropped the mic on that one,” Spoelstra said. “He shocked all of us, he shocked Dwayne [Wade]. I love seeing Dwayne have that really sincere, genuine reaction to it, where he was speechless. It was just really cool. That's why Dwayne is Dwyane, that's why Pat is Pat. That's the way it should be. That this is just one night and then yet the statue will be there next year. That's going to be really cool.”
Asked Miami Heat HC Erik Spoelstra about Dwyane Wade (@DwyaneWade) getting a statue and his telling of his and everybody’s reaction lit up the room.
“Pat kept that in his pocket…Pat is the Godfather for a million reasons…” #HEATCulture pic.twitter.com/oSrG5BCgOa
— Zachary Weinberger (@ZachWeinberger) January 15, 2024
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