When measured strictly by such time-honored sports maxims, the 2011-12 Heat has fared better without Dwyane Wade. Miami is 5-4 in games Wade has played, and 5-0 in those he has missed, with a sprained right ankle likely to sideline him Saturday night against the Atlantic Division-leading 76ers. In the four games LeBron James has played without Wade, the Heat has outscored opponents by an average of 19.8 points, and three of those opponents (Spurs, Lakers and Pacers) hardly were patsies.
On Thursday, before James dismantled the visiting Lakers, TNT studio analyst Charles Barkley asserted that James is "a totally different player" without Wade. "I'm going to challenge him to play like that all the time. He's the best player in the world but, for some reason, when Dwyane is on the court, he takes a back seat."
After Shaquille O'Neal, who was a teammate of each, defended James as a "a pass-first player," Barkley argued that if "something isn't working, it's stupid to keep doing the same thing over and over." He added that when James becomes passive, he tries too hard to make up for it when it matters.
"He's got to take over this team," Barkley said. On Friday, the debate became more extreme in some circles, centering around whether Erik Spoelstra should bring Wade off the bench, or Riley should simply trade him. Wade took notice, tweeting that the "#WithoutWade segment" on ESPN is "quite funny."
"I was watching my son shoot and he missed every shot but once I left #WithoutWade he didn't miss. That's what I was told. L2MS."That means "Laughing To Myself."No, what everyone should do is laugh at it.
Riley's not trading Wade. Not now, and likely not ever. Riley's cutthroat? At times. But he gets emotionally tied to his favorite players and teams: ask P.J. Brown or the 2006 champions he kept together a year too long. Wade's going nowhere.
Nor is Wade becoming a $15 million reserve. Yes, Manu Ginobili volunteered for a Spurs sixth man slot, but Ginobili's not Wade. Plus, that doesn't solve the Heat's recurring crunch-time chemistry issues, since Wade and James would still finish games together.
So those story lines are silly. That's not to say that everything related to the play of James and Wade - together and apart - is entirely unworthy of attention.
For starters, James has certainly seemed more assertive without Wade, though the difference is not dramatically reflected in scoring numbers: James has averaged 32.3 points in four starts without his sidekick, compared to 28.9 otherwise. James' shooting percentage, while excellent either way, is actually six percentage points lower when Wade's in a suit. The number that has shot up with Wade absent? That's James' assist total, from 6.6 in games with Wade and 10.0 without; credit that to increased ball-handling duties plus the presence of more floor-spreading shooters who convert perimeter passes into points.
To the amateur psychologists, the primary effect of Wade's absence is more subtle - it forces James to stay engaged, no matter how he or his teammates are performing. For instance, if Wade was with him Tuesday night, when James struggled throughout the first half against the Spurs, he may have deferred to Wade throughout the second. Instead, he knew the burden was on him, and he came out of the break firing. Contrast that to what happened at Golden State on Jan. 10, when James slinked into the shadows late, as Wade was forcing the issue during a 1-of-8 fourth quarter.
James and Wade are similar players. They knew that when they signed. Throughout their careers, they have operated from the same spots on the floor, and been entrusted with similar responsibilities. Collaboration is an adjustment. In Orlando, before the season, Wade reflected again on coming together: "I think it surprised a lot of people. You don't think me and LeBron would play together. Let's just call a spade a spade. A lot of people wouldn't think that two players like that, egos, similar games, would play together. And you see the success we had, got this close to a championship."
They did. They will again. They will likely win one if, after Wade returns, they keep working to make each other better, to consistently make the numbers work in their favor - so that one plus one consistently equals more than two.