Heat's Wade Wants More by Doing Less

Dwyane Wade is coming off the most impressive season of his career, a yeoman effort that produced a scoring title and his first All-NBA First-Team selection.

He doesn't want a repeat. In this case, less could mean more.

Wade was sitting alone on the sideline before a recent exhibition game, watching several of his teammates in a casual shooting drill, contemplating how this season might unfold, and how he wants his role to change.

"If I don't have to score as much, it would be a good thing. It would mean other guys are stepping up, and I won't have to do it all,'' Wade told FanHouse. "It's good if I'm playing fewer minutes, too. I don't care about winning a scoring title. I want to win games.''

Usually when guys go into their contract year -- like Wade is -- they want more of everything: points, minutes and shining individual moments. How nice would a Most Valuable Player Award look in a free agency summer? Wade, though, is confident enough in his worth that his goals go well beyond the number of shots he will get.

"I'll say it this: I wouldn't have it any other way. When I'm on the court, I want the ball in my hands. I want to be making plays. But we need some of the young guys to break out,'' he said. "People keep talking about last season, but there still are things I can do better.''

Wade scoffed at any early talk about the MVP Award or his pending free agency. He preferred to talk about his quest to make the NBA's All-Defensive First Team, a goal that narrowly eluded him last season when he was only a second-team selection. That still irks him.

Wade averaged a league best 30.2 points last season. He was second in steals (2.19 spg), eighth in assists (7.5 apg) and sixth in minutes played (38.6 mpg). He won games with blocked shots, too, often blanketing the opposing team's leading scorer. It's hard to imagine him improving in his seventh NBA season.

He played in a career-high 79 games, silencing the talk about being injury prone because of his often-reckless style of play. He managed just 51 games in each of the previous two seasons.

"He's such a highly motivated athlete that he always wants to improve something,'' said Heat coach Eric Spoelstra. "He can still take it to another level.''