BY BARRY JACKSON
bjackson@MiamiHerald.com
Even a week later, Dwyane Wade still finds this somewhat difficult to fathom.
"It just feels surreal to everybody," Wade said Wednesday, still digesting this fantasy-turned-reality of LeBron James and Chris Bosh joining him on the Heat.
"I hit up LeBron [on Tuesday] night and I told him I'm looking at ESPN and I see his name scroll on the bottom and it says 'Miami Heat forward LeBron James.'
"I just said, 'Man, it's crazy.' And he said, 'Yeah, I just saw the same thing.' "
Behind his cool countenance, Wade feels every bit as exhilarated as the most fanatical of Heat fans. And he's intoxicated by the possibilities of what this threesome can achieve.
"It's beyond exciting," he said. "I don't think we even really know how excited we're going to be."
When Wade walked down an AmericanAirlines Arena hallway last Friday, about to be soaked in the adulation of 13,000 screaming Heat fans, his eyes started darting.
"I was looking to my left and to my right, and it took me back to the All-Star Game," he said. "I was like, 'This is not real.' We were laughing. It was like, 'We can't believe we're playing together.' Just like every one else can't.
"Players from other teams are probably still like us. They're probably asking, 'How did that happen? How did those guys check their egos and get together?' People believe that athletes have these huge egos, and we all have egos, yes, but not bigger than winning.
"This was the best thing for all of us to do. It shows a lot of the three guys to want to get together in the prime of their careers and say, 'Let's do something amazing for years to come.'"
Much has been made of how Wade, James and Bosh accepted less money than the maximum permitted - a notion that once seemed unfathomable for players of their caliber. Because James and Bosh were involved in sign-and-trades, each was eligible to receive $125 million over six seasons. So was Wade.
Instead, James and Bosh accepted $110 million, and Wade took $107 million, over six years. Combined, they left $48‚million on the table.
Part of the money that Wade sacrificed was used to create salary-cap room to re-sign his close friend, Udonis Haslem.
"People are saying, 'Well, you're making millions of dollars. How can you say that's a sacrifice?' Well, that's your millions of dollars to sacrifice," Wade said.
"This whole team is built on sacrifice. Myself, LeBron and Chris led the way. And everyone who is going to come and be a part of it is going to have to sacrifice. That is going to be our motto this season."
Here's all you need to know about Wade's selflessness: He didn't think twice about giving up some of his money to keep Haslem. And he has no problem pocketing a smaller paycheck than James and Bosh will get.
"Once we got down to crunching the numbers, we needed extra money [for Haslem]," Wade said. "[I said], 'It doesn't matter. Take it from me. It's not about the dollars. I want Udonis here. We want Udonis here. Udonis wants to be here. Let's get it done.' "
Wade made a few interesting points this week as he reflected on the free agent whirlwind.
For starters, he said he didn't need to do a sales job on James and Bosh to join him in Miami.
"I didn't have to sell them on it," he said. "I've known LeBron and Chris since we all came into the NBA together. They understand me. They know how highly I think of the Heat organization and everybody knows about the city of Miami."
He also disputed the notion that he and James have been planning this, plotting this, for years.
"Everybody wants to speculate this has been something that has been going on for seven years," he said. "It's funny to read that. None of that is true. It wasn't LeBron and I saying four years ago that we're going to play together. You cannot do that."
And he made clear he wanted two great players to join him, not just one.
"There are a lot of misconceptions on how much talent it takes to win a championship," he said. "It takes at least two but it really takes three to be a dynasty. That's what we want to be."
Because of the players' willingness to sacrifice money, Wade has been taken aback by the criticism nationally - mostly directly at James.
"Chris Bosh said it best: A lot of people don't like it, but we do," Wade said. "You show me one person or one team who wouldn't have done this, and I'll show you a liar."
In a sense, the Heat has become the basketball version of the Yankees, a star-laden team loved by some, loathed by others.
Does Wade like that comparison?
"Any comparisons, if it's good comparisons or if it's bad comparisons, it's not going to change us at all," he said. "It's not going to win you games and it's not going to lose you games.
"It's all fun. It sells papers. It starts off well on ESPN. It has given the National Basketball Association the publicity it needs in our down time."
One reporter suggested this team will be an NBA version of the Beatles.
Wade smiled.
"Chris Bosh's mind was racing," Wade said. "I was like, 'You know what, C.B.? None of us have seen anything like this before, even though LeBron has his own shining star and I have mine. This is all new to all of us and we just have to deal with it the best we can."
But let's be clear about this: "We're here to win a championship," Wade said. "We're not here to sell jerseys. We're not here to pump up ratings."
Wade welcomes expectations, but has been careful to say that the two-time defending champion Lakers "are the team everyone should be shooting for."
Said Wade: "[Charlotte guard] Stephen Jackson said it best: They're not going to run from us. We don't want anybody to run from us. It's not going to be easy. [But] I don't feel pressure yet. It's still basketball. We are going to have fun. We're still young men. We can't put the pressure on ourselves like we're going to run the country. We're not Barack Obama."
Wade then ponders this question: How will James and Bosh make him even better?
"When you play with players that are just as talented as you are, it makes your job a lot easier," he said. "It makes the game easier. No double teams. No triple teams. You're not worried about just me. You're worried about other guys as well.
"I think the biggest thing that's going to change is our defense. LeBron every year competes for Defensive Player of the Year. Even though I've been snubbed twice on All-Defensive first team, I've been a pretty good defender. And Chris is an underrated defender."
Wade can't wait to get started.
"Right now, it's surreal," he said. "Every day that goes by, we get more and more to understand this thing has really happened."
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