Dwyane Wade unconventionally selected Ray Allen and Rip Hamilton as the 2 toughest players he had to guard during his NBA career.
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Dwyane Wade is one of the greatest players of all time at the shooting guard position. The Marquette product could do it all on both ends of the floor during his heyday.
Wade could split double-teams and slash to the rim when faced with blitzes and incessant pressure. He was a master at initiating contact and getting and-1 buckets. And on his day, few players had his explosiveness and speed on the way to the bucket.
While his career started falling off early on due to knee problems, D-Wade remained a stellar contributor for quite a while. He retired after 16 long seasons in the league – a period that could’ve been longer but for his meniscus problems.
Selected 3 times to All-Defensive Second Teams, Wade also had the ability to lock his opponents up. His ability to put the clamps on his opposition marked him out as one of the more complete 2-guards ever. Wade retired with the 2nd highest blocks total for a guard – at 885.
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Dwyane Wade rates Ray Allen and Rip Hamilton as his toughest covers
During D-Wade’s time in the NBA, there were quite a few talented players at the 2-guard spot. One of them was obviously Kobe Bryant. Allen Iverson and Tracy McGrady were also great players and scorers at that spot.
In addition, there also were players like Manu Ginobili who could play the combo guard role. But when posed the question of his toughest cover, Wade went with different options:
“I always go with guys like Ray Allen and Rip Hamilton. I hated guarding those dudes – especially Rip, because he had those nails too. Grabbing elbows and doing all of that s**t. Me and Rip got into it a lot of times, boy.”
“Rip put them nails in you to start the game and you be like ‘Rip, this is the tip! This is just the tip!’ I hated guarding Rip, I hated guarding Ray. Just guys like that, you know, that move that constantly.”
Ray Allen was doubtless one of the greatest shooters and off-ball players of all time. The former Bucks, Sonics and Celtics star posed problems to a lot of defenders across the league during his prime.
Though he was pretty old by the time he won his first title with the Cs, he remained an elite shooter till his 2014 retirement with the Heat.
