First Among Equals

How much does Dwyane Wade mean to the Heat compared with two other stars who drive their teams, LeBron James and Kobe Bryant (shown here at the Beijing Olympics)? Through Sunday's games, here are the approximate percentage of his team's points each had created on offense (points + [assists √ó 2]), the approximate percentage of points each had saved on defense ([steals + blocks] √ó 1.5) and the percentage of points each had scored relative to the next top scorer on their team. Clearly Wade is a main man among main men.

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	% PTS CREATED	% PTS SAVED	% ABOVE NEXT TEAMMATE
DWYANE WADE, Heat	44.8	5.9	+125.2 (Michael Beasley)
LEBRON JAMES, Cavaliers	40.2	4.9	+76.7 (Mo Williams)
KOBE BRYANT, Lakers	33.6	2.5	+56.1 (Pau Gasol)

PHOTO

JOHN BIEVER (WADE WITH JAMES AND BRYANT)