Dwayne Wade entered the NBA as the 5th overall pick by the Miami Heat in the 2003 NBA draft. He came into the league as a highly touted point guard with an impressive game and is the highest selection for any player for Marquette University.
He was not know as a high flyer like his boyhood idol Michael Jordan. At 6”4” playing above the rim was not his forte. He is an extraordinary ballhandler and has one of the quickest and deadliest crossovers in the game.
He is considered a tenacious defender but was always on the outside looking at the NBA’s elite players. He played in the shadow of Carmelo Anthony and Lebron James in his rookie season. He was selected to the All-Rookie team sand was in the top five in several statistical categories. When you first see Dwayne Wade dunking it is truly a beautiful site.
Although not overly tall by NBA standards, he makes up for that with a 38” vertical leap. He explodes to the hoop with heavenly grace and can make all the fancy dunks the other high flyers make. His basketball prowess is measured more for his all round game than for ability to dunk.
During the season, I the 2008-2009 Dwayne Wade became the first player in NBA history to accumulate at least 2,000 points, 500 assists, 100 steals, and 100 blocks in a season and is the first player of 6 ft. 5 in. or shorter to register at least 100 blocks in a season. His best attribute seems to be his ability to make difficult lay-ups. He is constantly crashing into bigger defenders and gets bounced around but still manages to make impressive, off balance shots. D-Wade has a very impressive resume of dunks.
His most memorable was on 11/12/2009 when Dwayne Wade dunks over Anderson Varejao during the Miami Heat vs. Cleveland Cavaliers game. Dwayne Wade dunking over the much bigger Anderson Varejao is incredible. D-Wade rebounded the basketball after Lebron James missed the dunk. He took the coast-to-coast and elevated up and over Varejao at the basket.
Anderson Varejao was posterized and the image of him falling backward will be alive on the Internet forever. Another famous dunk was during the Eastern Conference Playoffs against the Charlotte Bobcats on 12/8/2008. Dwayne Wade splits the double team and attacks the rim with ferocity; Omeka Okafor slides over and attempts to block the slam-dunk attempt. Unfortunately for Okafor Dwayne Wade finishes the dunk with authority and Omeka Okafor looks like a rag doll. Dwayne Wade loves to dunk on the big guys.
On January 16th, 2010 Dwayne Wade dunks over Kevin Garnett of the Boston Celtics, who is a premier shot blocker. So far the 2009-2010 NBA season is littered with Dwayne Wade dunking over some big time players in the NBA. He seems to have a chip on his shoulder and wants to prove he can leap with Kobe and Lebron. The tally of his astonishing dunks is increasing and is at 22 based on video results on yougotdunkedon.com.
The list of his victims is impressive and includes Luis Scola, Andrew Bogut, Chris Bosh, Amare Stoudamire and Hasheem Thabeet to name a few. He also showed off his creativity with an off-the-backboard dunk in the 2009-2010 All-Star Game.
While cutting through the lane he lobs the basketball off the backboard and follows it up with a two handed jam. He must now be included in the discussion of the great dunkers in today’s game.