Fear the Links: The Dwyane Wade edition

Happy Friday, everyone. Here are today’s Fear the Links. If you have something you deserves to be shared here, drop me an email at christopherwmanning@gmail.com.

From Fear the Sword: A podcast on Wade’s fit, previewing Channing Frye’s season, J.R. Smith seems to be the Cavs’ starting two guard, at least for now, LeBron missed practice due to ankle injury and Dwyane Wade will wear No. 9 with the Cavs.

From 2006, when Dwyane Wade was named Sports Illustrated’s Sportsman of the Year after winning the title, he was profiled by the great S.L. Price. The Wade the Cavs are getting is not this Wade, but it’s fun to go back and look at what he was as a younger superstar. Also at Sports Illustrated, Ben Golliver writes about Wade being a way to make LeBron happy in a season where that matters for the Cavs.

At FiveThirtyEight, Chris Herring writes about how the Cavs are built to have Wade play the way he used to. One add on I’d make: the Cavs getting Wade (and Jae Crowder) to cut more would be a notable change.

At ESPN, Zach Lowe breaks down the NBA’s lottery reform that goes into effect for the 2019 NBA Draft.

Kanye West is apparently a huge Mike Conley fan. Same, Kanye, same.

Lastly, from ESPN, here’s a 2011 profile of Derrick Rose by Wright Thompson. From Wade to Rose to Jeff Green and more, it’s remarkable how many guys the Cavs have that have lived extensive basketball lives and yet are still around.