Sorry Mo but your point just proves the latter. With Wade coming back and making his team so much better, its just a form of chemestry that needed to be added for the team to successfully achieve at their full potential. Did Wade make his team better? Yes he did, in different ways though. He put the pressure on the other teammates to keep up with his pace of game and to make the shots like he made them.

And you know what? They responded.

That's the talent that the Heat had and they threw it all away in a trade for Big Shaq daddy (which was a good trade but some can also argue it being a bad one as well). The Clipper-itis certainly disappeared in Lamar Odom, Caron Butler played to his real potential because the team had good team chemestry and momentum on their side. Yes it was caused by Wade's addition, yes he sparked this, but in the end the team responded not because of just Wade's presense on the court, but because each and every individual player on that team had the composure to step up their game.

Point? Lebron had everyone staring at him in awe. Proof? His highest point game vs the struggling Toronto when they were fighting for a spot in the playoffs.

I hate using one game as an example because you can't justify a whole season around it but it really closely resembled the problems Lebron had all year round. I believe this game was the backbreaker of the season for James. His noticable frustration in his teammates and rage led him to score 56 points in one game and they still lost! His teammates didn't step up their games when he did and they lost that game. Guys like McInnis began arguing with management, Paul Silas was fired, the new owner Danny Ferry had the whole team shaken up.

Put Dwayne Wade around guys of that character and I doubt they would have responded the same way the '03-'04 Heat did. The talent simply wasn't there for Lebron to make his impact and its like what I'm learning right now in university for Sociology. Its about life chances, and Lebron hasn't received them. Wade has and its overshadowing Lebron's skill in some people's eyes. People remember winners and that's a sad fact because so many good players are forgotten because of it.

Why isn't Wade anywhere near as good as Lebron? Throw Wade in an environment like that and I smell underachieving. Its as if Lebron got the complete opposite situation as Darko, he got all the playing time in the world but the players around him just aren't good enough to help. Danny Ferry realized that he's got a potential MJ-esque leader and superstar in Lebron, hence the acquisitions this year to help the support line. That is confidence in skill and ability.

What did Pat Riley do when he saw a superstar and leader in Dwayne Wade? He rebuilt the team and traded for Shaq, another superstar and leader. Not exactly a good vote of confidence in his abilities, in my opinion.

But again, I'm not understating Wade at all. But if I were to rate Lebron and Wade in NBA Live 2006: Lebron would get a 95 overall and Wade would be a 83.

Thats the amount of difference I see in them.

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