LeBron James is Dwyane Wade’s Scottie Pippen
Jun 6, 2011, 5:34 PM | Updated: 6:38 pm
LeBron James may be the best basketball player in the world, but the Miami Heat are led by Dwyane Wade.
“King James is going to get his ring, but he is going to get it as Scottie Pippen and not as Michael Jordan,” Ron Wolfley said during Doug and Wolf Monday morning.
All season there has been much debate about whether the Heat were James’ team or Wade’s team. Who was Batman? Who was Robin?
James may be closer to Wade than Pippen was to Jordan, but Pippen and James both have the same role.
They both made big contributions as Pippen averaged 17 points per game in the playoffs throughout his career and James is currently averaging 28 points and playing remarkable defense, but they both needed to defer the ball in the fourth quarter.
While Pippen knew to pass the ball in the fourth quarter, James sometimes decides to keep it.
James did defer to Wade in Game 3 of the NBA Finals, but that was more of a one-time thing.
The prematurely anointed King’s late game struggles and inability to hit the big shot or the big free throws has been well documented because of his willingness to be Michael Jordan.
James may have won back-to-back MVP awards, but Wade is a leader and a closer.
Wade has a ring and knows what it takes to lead a team to a championship.
If the Miami Heat go on to win the 2011 NBA Finals people will celebrate James while comparing him to Jordan for no apparent reason.
Wade, who would be celebrating his second NBA title, will be sitting in the background as the often-ignored leader and catalyst that he is.
James may be the player that gets the majority of the credit, but there is no mistaking who is the most important player to the Miami Heat.
