When Dwyane Wade was acquired by the Cleveland Cavaliers in the 2017 offseason, a question of what role he would play on the team began making rounds throughout all forms of media. Should Wade, a three-time champion and 12-time All Star, be a member of Cleveland’s starting unit, as many predicted? Or would Cavs head coach Tyronn Lue, now in his third year at the helm, bring the former Marquette Golden Eagles stand-out off the bench?
An answer came relatively soon. Wade was given the starting nod, which relegated J.R. Smith to the bench. However, after just three games, the 35 year-old Chicago native approached coach Lue to discuss a different approach. According to most reports, Wade actually volunteered to play with the second unit.
“I knew Game 1,” Wade recently told Jeff Zillgitt USA TODAY Sports. “I knew for me to be successful and for me to come to this team and bring what I can to this team, the starting unit just wasn’t a unit for me. So, I decided to go to the unit that was for me.”
The decision to have Wade play with the second unit has paid off quite well for the Cavs. After a shaky 5-7 start, they’ve managed to win 14 of their last 15 games, including a franchise record-tying 13-game winning streak.
“Off the bench, Wade averages 12.3 points, four assists, 3.8 rebounds and shoots 48.5% from the field – much better than his stats as a starter (5.7, 3.3, two, 28%), Zillgitt writes in his recent article.
“With Wade on the court as a reserve, Cleveland scores 114.1 points and allows 103.3 points per 100 possessions for a net efficiency rating of plus-10.8. In the three games Wade started, Cleveland had a net efficiency rating of minus-8.5 with Wade on the court.”
Coach Lue tells USA Today that Wade has become the accepted leader of Cleveland’s talented second unit.
“First, we have a future Hall of Famer say he wants to come off the bench. That was the first step,” coach Lue said of Wade. “And then seeing who fits well together, who plays well together and getting that second unit intact has just been great all season. That’s kind of his unit. He runs and controls that unit, so he’s more comfortable having the ball in his hands.”
Wade, a player with over 1,000 starts in his career, says ego had to be brushed aside in making the decision to join the second unit.
“Look in the mirror man, and that’s what I did,” Wade said. “Even my ego saying, ‘I’ve been a starter, and I’ve had this kind of career,’ I still wasn’t going to make the best of it just by being in the starting lineup because of my ego.
“So for me, I was, ‘OK, where can you be your better self and how can you enjoy playing the game and be happy playing the game?’ To me, it was just about making the best of my situation and understanding where I was going to be best at.”
Without question, Wade has been an important part of Cleveland’s recent success. In his 26 games played for the Cavs this season, he’s turned in averages of 11.5 points on 46.4 percent shooting from the field, 3.9 assists, and 3.6 rebounds.
Wade and the Cavs will be back in action on Tuesday night when they’ll welcome the Atlanta Hawks to Quicken Loans Arena. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. with Fox Sports Ohio and Fox Sports Southeast having live broadcast coverage.