Dwyane Wade didn’t have fun last season

Winning a third straight NBA title- if it had happened- and making your fourth straight finals appearance sounds like everything an NBA player dreams of. But apparently that was the case for the Miami Heat last season.

Dwyane Wade said last season wasn’t fun, and he feels the renewed energy back within the Miami Heat organization this season.

“It was great, you know, we went to the Finals four years in a row, and it was everything we wanted from that standpoint, but sometimes throughout that run at certain times, it just wasn’t fun,” Wade said. “Individually, it was great having certain relationships, and having my best friend here with me, but all of us didn’t have fun all the time….He understands that no team, even a title team, has fun all the time. Nor was he the first Heat player to allude to the absence of enjoyment last season—Chris Bosh and Shane Battier expressed that emphatically in public, while other Heat players frequently did so in private.

“Just this year, coming in, I can see, even the coaches, there’s just a different renewed focus and energy. No one knows what it’s going to lead to. No one knows if that’s going to lead to a Finals win or Finals loss or not the Finals at all. But right now it’s good for everyone to come in every day and want to be here.”

Going to the finals that many years in a row is mentally and physically exhausting. Not to mention a new baby and alleged infighting amongst some of the Heat wives and wifeys, I can totally understand how DWade would make that statement.

And of course the players are up for this season. With LeBron gone, it opens up new challenges and new roles for guys. DWade can’t be Flash again, but he firmly gets his team back. And he still has one more ring than LeBron.