Most guards shoot a low percentage because their looks usually come from the perimeter or behind the 3-point line. Common sense tells us that the nearer you are to the basket, the better your chance at swishing the net.
Miami Heat legend Dwyane Wade knows this. During his legendary run in the league, which yielded three NBA Championships, "The Flash" prioritized taking good and efficient shots.
D-Wade's impressive shooting clip
Most NBA players claim they don't care about their personal accolades or statistics. They say they only care about the team. However, in an interview with Bleacher Report , Wade was blunt in admitting that he genuinely cared about his shooting clip.
"My field-goal percentage," Dwyane said in 2014. "I always have. My whole career, I always have. I take pride in that. I look down the line, I see people at this point that maybe average more than me, but they are averaging 42, 41 percent. You know, I could do that. But I try to take good shots, and high-percentage shots."
In his 16-year career, the 2010 All-Star MVP shot 48.0 percent from the field in the regular season. This ranks 25th among shooting guards, according to StatMuse . However, the ranking may not be as accurate as the list contains non-volume shooters.
Since many consider D-Wade the third-best shooting guard of all time, comparing his shooting percentage to that of Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant seems like a valid exercise. MJ shot a ridiculous 49.7 percent clip from the field, while Kobe shot a respectable 44.7 percent.
His best shooting years were from 2010 to 2014, when Dwyane was teammates with LeBron James and Chris Bosh. The Marquette standout shot as high as 54.5 percent during that historic run, which shows how the 13-time All-Star successfully tweaked his game to complement his teammates. From a ball-dominant player, the Chicago native became a great cutter and a catch-and-shoot threat.
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Pure instinct
The former Heat guard spent countless hours in the gym to perfect his craft. Wade also studied tons of game film to be aware of when and where his shots would come. But during the game itself, Dwyane just went with the flow and followed his gut more than his mind.
"I just like to be pure instinctive, as much as possible," he said. "That's where I have always been my best. When I was young, that was my thing that got me over the hump, was how great I was instinctively. Obviously, as I got older, I'm not as instinctive, because I've had to adjust my game to my body on certain nights… But the nights that I can be, I love it. That's where I'm at my best. I've always been able to just do and react."
D-Wade is the definition of a generational basketball talent. Those who saw him at his peak were lucky to have witnessed one of the most intelligent athletes on the planet.
Related: Dwyane Wade admits Kobe Bryant was his GOAT when he first got to the NBA - "He was the greatest player in the game"
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