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Sophomore slumps weren't part of Dwyane Wade's vocabulary. Flash lit up his second season, and the high-wire plays from his rookie year stayed, sharpened by a knockdown mid-range jumper and defensive instincts that seemed to arrive before he did. The result left no argument: D-Wade had earned his first SLAM cover.
Wade entered the League with the '03 draft class, chasing (and mostly losing) attention to the Chosen One, an unknown, a college champ and plenty of proven collegiate names. Scouts figured he was undersized for a two-guard, yet too big and not good enough to run the point. The draft combine still can't measure a player's heart. Wade would've topped that category by a mile.
Then Shaquille O'Neal arrived, and Wade still showed no fear, commanding the Heat like a fire keeper of old. He must've looked into the flames and seen the game — not just his game, but the game. Playing the game is a learned skill. The game is the photo shoots, the public appearances, the media requirements, the official League events, and then, at the end of all that, the actual game itself. He was pretty damn good at the on-court part, finishing top ten in the NBA in both scoring and assists that second campaign. Those scouts tried hard to predict the future, but they never had access to the flames Wade could peer into.
Flash did it, and he excelled at it. Not long after SLAM 87 dropped, he'd lead the Heat to a championship; that '06 Finals explosion was built on the simmering embers of the previous season. Wade would fall seven times and get up eight. His name came up more often, next to words like clutch, unstoppable, damn, and Hall of Famer.
SLAM 87 truly was the flashpoint.
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