"He really stepped forward early on in training camp, set the tone for this team," says coach Erik Spoelstra, Wade's former practice-court confidant as an assistant coach. "First at every drill we did, setting the example and also even being vocal and stopping drills to explain, 'This is how we do it here.'"

It is a story similar to the one in Los Angeles, when Kobe started hanging around more, loosening up, becoming one of the guys.

And working. Always working.

If anything, Wade's injuries taught lessons that otherwise might not have been appreciated.

As he worked the shoulder and the knee and Tim Grover's Chicago gym, he also strengthened calves, tightened abs, increased flexibility.

"He got his body in the best shape that he's ever been," Spoelstra says. "He's as strong as he's ever been. His legs are as strong as he's ever been and he's continued to go at it.

"It wasn't just all the preparation he did in Chicago, lifting weights and all the exercises. But now, after every practice, you see him in the weight room. He's got his routine. He's doing a half-hour, 45-minute routine in the weight room, just to prepare his legs for battle."

No, this isn't LeBron at 260.

But it also isn't a Wade so worried about recurrence of injury that he spent the past two seasons settling for the jumper.

"He looks great," Nets coach Lawrence Frank gushes at a recent game. "It's amazing how quickly people write people off in this league. The guy's a great player."

For Wade, individual greatness used to be the sole pursuit. Get his numbers. Get his accolades. And get out.

Now? Now there are jokes with teammates in the training room and locker room. Now there is fascination with more than points and trophies.

"If you lead in scoring and your team wins, it's great," he says. "You lead the league in scoring and your team is not winning, it's not so great.

"To me, at the end of the day, it's all about what can I do in that game to help this team win? I'm just fortunate enough right now where the ball's going in the basket a lot and I'm one of the top scorers in the league. But if I was 10th in the league in scoring and we had a better record, I'd be even happier."

As for those two-man debates about Most Valuable Player, the ones centering on LeBron and Kobe? He's fine with that, too.

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"I know I'm playing as well as anybody in the league, that's no secret," he says. "But I've got to continue to help this team continue to win, to get over that hump, where we're in the discussion at the end of the year of being one of the top-tier teams in the league.

"If we do that, it's going to take a lot out of a lot of us, but if we do that, then I'll be in the discussion."

There even is perspective about where his team stands.

"With a young team you understand it's going to be an uphill battle all year, it's going to be back and forth," he says. "We're, of course, not built like Boston and Cleveland and the Lakers. We're not them. They're built right now to be championship teams. We're built right now to be a team that grows, to continue to learn from each other and try to get better and better."

As he speaks, the use of "we" resonates, because even with all the points, there also are assists. He currently stands as the league's top non-point guard in that category.

"What he's doing now," says Bobcats coach Larry Brown, "I don't know if anybody could play any better, on both ends. He makes everybody better and every night he just plays at such a high level. It's kind of neat to watch."

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