During his prime, Dwyane Wade was one of the most dominant players in the NBA, and one of the often overlooked traits could be used by Tylese Halliburton to become the league’s best security guard.
For the majority of his 16 season career, Dwyane Wade was one of the most exciting and athletes in the NBA.
His burst of speed earned him his “Flash” nickname, and his Potterized Dunk was a staple in sports centres. During his nine seasons of Prime, he averaged 25.6 points and scored most of them on the rims.
He relied on his own sturdy frame and unparalleled verticals to pack his stat sheets, but his longtime opponents and short teammates believe that some of his game will be overlooked.
Wade remembers most for his ability to go downhill, but he was able to create separations around in various movements, giving him plenty of space for the steam head.
Although not a true point guard, Wade often shared the floor with the more traditional flooring generals, but he was able to create for himself with their best. Iman Shumpert, who teamed up with Wade for the Cleveland Cavaliers for a season, recalled how to navigate his surroundings with the same ease as reaching the basket.
“Dealing with the D-Wade handle doesn’t talk about a lot, but you have to protect someone who can go east and west and stand on the ground,” Shumpert recalled.
“There are a lot of people going north and south, but there are people in the east and west that can get away from going to the ball screen without using a ball screen. D-Wade has always been dangerous.
Alongside Derrick Rose and Jamal Crawford, Shumpert was listed as one of the hardest players to keep Wade in watch, and his ability to do a little bit of everything seemed like a unique one.
Halliburton and Wade are incredibly different players. Unlike Wade, Tyrees Halliburton can easily hit 3 seconds from anywhere, but he is not physically strong and cannot slash like Wade.
Unlike Wade, Halliburton is a true pass-first guard who doesn’t always try to score. Although the playstyle is different, both have ice in the veins and an impressive portfolio of clutch moments.
Although Halliburton can dance at the boundary line, he does so to create space for his teammates to shoot or buy time for him to open, but at 6 feet 5 he used those moves to be one of his only weaknesses of last season.
“That’s what we were pleading for to be Thai Halliburton,” added ESPN’s Marika Andrews. “He had a lot of north and south in the finals, and he went a little more east and west.”
During the 2023-24 season, Halliburton shot 69.3% of the elite and 58.2% within 10 feet of the basket. He remained effective last season, but the volume near the hoop fell considerably.
As Halliburton spends next season recovering from Achilles’ tears, he adds another dimension to his scoring by redoing his offensive style of attack, taking stardom to the next level.