Dwyane Wade's first preseason game of his last season in the league brought forward memories of his prowess as the NBA's once scoring champion. The 16th-year shooting guard led the team with 10 shots attempted in the first half before taking a seat on the bench for the remainder of the game, but it's not exactly the way coach Erik Spoelstra is envisioning his role.

“I don't need to even overstate Dwyane Wade, but there's a reason why we all wanted him back and why I was making a big push to get him back,” said Spoelstra after a 104-100 loss to the San Antonio Spurs on Sunday, according to Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun Sentinel. “Is there are a lot of really interesting, versatile pieces that we have on this team, and we have a lot of speed, we have a lot of youth, we have a lot of versatility.”

“You need a maestro to be able to bring it all together and that's what you see. It's so much more coherent when he's out there and he's using his brain and his mind to help the whole team. That's the genius of a Hall of Fame player.”

For Wade, this is just a matter of chemistry and developing it over the course of training camp and the preseason, and he's already seeing glimpses of his future with this team.

“I'm a playmaker,” said Wade. “That's just in my nature. It's: Put pressure on the defense. Score the basketball. Play-make first and then score from there.

“It doesn't change for me. I'm always trying to put pressure on the basket and get to the middle of the paint, make the defense make a decision — either me or the big with help defense — so I can spray to other guys.

“So when I get in the game, right away I just want to be able to draw two, so I can make plays for others and then give myself the opportunity to strike also.”

Wade has been making the right reads in training camp, already linking up with some of the usual suspects from last season, having re-ignited his familiarity with them.

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In the middle, recent in-game photos of Erik Spoelstra and Joe Mazzulla. Have Spoelstra smiling/celebrating and Mazzulla looking upset. Behind Mazzulla, recent in-game photos of Jayson Tatum and Derrick White, looking frustrated/upset. Behind Spoelstra, recent in-game photos of Tyler Herro and Caleb Martin celebrating/ smiling/clapping.

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Continuing this for the entirety of the season is exactly the challenge Spoelstra has in mind for him, as he could be Dion Waiters' potential replacement at shooting guard while he fully recovers from a season-ending injury.