NBA legend Dwyane Wade says All-Star Game critics must move with times – and China should not wait for new Yao Ming
- Basketball ‘is different, you can’t expect it to look the same’, he says of comparisons with old days. ‘We’re expecting the same product and that’s just unfair’
- Wade says fans should not wait in ‘hope that China gets another Yao Ming, that’s unfair to players in China’
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Former US basketball star Dwyane Wade has said the NBA All-Star Game is a product of changing times and fans should embrace it, rather than lamenting it being less competitive than it was.
The East beat the West 211-186 last week, the first time the game had seen a team reach the 200-point mark, but Wade, speaking exclusively to the Post in Macau, urged spectators to move with the times.
“We don’t appreciate nothing when it’s happening – we only appreciate when it’s gone,” the Hall of Famer said. “The world is different, let’s just enjoy the greatness that we get to see.
“The game is surrounded by outside shots, shooting and scoring, it’s not surrounded by defence any more. It’s a whole different beast, so you can’t ask the players to change their mindset for an All-Star Game.”
A 13-time All-Star, Wade has lived through the changes – from seeing Kobe Bryant and others being competitive to the game it is today.
“That game was built around throwing it in a [tight space],” said the Chicago native, who spent 14 full seasons with the Miami Heat. “This game is built on coming across half-court shooting threes.
“They do this in the NBA games, so the game is different, you can’t expect it to look the same, and that’s unfair to the players today because we’ve shifted the game, the rules have shifted and we’re expecting the same product and that’s just unfair.”
The former All-Star Game MVP also thinks the NBA has done a “great job” pitting Stephen Curry against two-time WNBA All-Star Sabrina Ionescu in a bonus head-to-head three-point contest.
“They try to evolve and shift, it’s great for the game overall,” Wade said. “It’s great for the young boys and girls who are going to play basketball to see that competition on the biggest stage at the time in the NBA.
“Hopefully, it can be the same way at the WNBA All-Star Game … so we can keep growing the game of basketball. That’s what it’s all about.”
The three-time NBA champion was not sure, however, about adding stakes to the All-Star Game, like in Major League Baseball, which from 2003 to 2016 awarded World Series home-field advantage on the basis of who won that year’s All-Star Game.
“You’ve got guys who play 82 games a year to get home-court advantage, and you’re going to take it away?” Wade said. “That sounds crazy, but you never know until you have to.
“Maybe the game will be more competitive, but then maybe you walk out of there with three or four injuries in an All-Star Game.”
Yao, now president of the Chinese Basketball Association, told the summit “people should not expect another Yao Ming, because I have many unique conditions”.
“How many Yaos have walked the world?” Wade said. “We should feel lucky that we got an opportunity to experience Yao, and maybe another generation at some point will.
“But that’s not common, Shaquille O’Neal is not common, and to sit around and say we hope that China gets another Yao Ming, that’s unfair to all the players in China that are trying to play the game of basketball.
“What we need to do is continue to teach the game, so players know how to play the game the way that they need to, to be successful, and not try to recreate an ingredient that we’re not going to be able to recreate.”
