Dwyane Wade's charity tour continued Monday in South Florida--for a second straight day--and after addressing about 1,500 Pompano Beach residents he discussed everything from his status for the Beijing Olympics to the NBA Finals and how his perspective has changed as his stature has grown on and off the court.
He helped award a $25,000 check to Mitchell/Moore Park as part of Staples' Dream Park Challenge, and here's what he said afterward...
- On whether he'll be 100 percent by Team USA training camp and Heat training camp: "Yeah, no question. If I'm going to Olympics and I'm not 100 percent, I'm not going to play. (Renowned Trainer) Tim Grover's not going to let me play (if I'm not 100 percent). But I'm not worried about...I still have two and half three weeks to continue to get my timing back on the court. I have a lot of days and hours in the gym (left) doing that."
- He sees similarities in the Lakers-Celtics series to 2006 when the Heat won the title after losing the first two games: "What we did in the championship has to be respected. When you're down 0-2 in any series it's tough to come back. When you're down 0-2 in the Finals it's even tougher. For us to come back and win four straight games it has to be respected. I was looking at the Lakers game last night and I was laughing inside because a lot of it was familiar. You see the frustration on the Lakers' faces and a lot of people are going to write them off today but that Game 3 in LA is going to be exciting for them."
- Wade claimed he doesn't have a rooting interest but he did say of the Lakers: "They're going to get back on their feet, and the whole series changes. It's unpredictable, especially when you got No. 24 (Kobe Bryant) on the other end of that basketball, you really can't say what happens. It's going to turn out to be a great Finals."
- He revealed that he sometimes just stops at local parks for fun and enjoys the reaction he gets from kids and families. "I wish I could do it more. I do things like that just for it to be a moment that everyone's going to remember. I remember it. If I see a family out, I raise my window down just because I enjoy seeing the excitement, the smiles.
- The typical reaction: "I'm recognized right away. Sometimes you get the wow effect, sometimes you get, 'I can beat you.'"
- His response about whether it gets frustrating that he can't just snap his fingers to make things happen in the community, also perhaps could be applied to his situation with the Heat: "We would love to say I'm doing this everybody jump on board. It's not that simple. You have to have the right people in place to help you get where you want to get to."
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