Dwyane Wade is keeping track. He has heard analysts say this Miami Heat line-up will be a flop. He has heard other players lash out over the way LeBron James made his decision.
He has heard executives from other teams list Boston and Orlando as the teams to beat in the Eastern Conference.
All duly noted in Wade's mind.
He is not bothered nor angered, he said. But he acknowledged that when the Heat convene for training camp in late September, the gibes will serve as motivation for himself, for James, for Chris Bosh and everyone else inside the reloaded Miami locker room.
"My whole career is built on fuel," Wade said. "It's always been there. It's not going to change what I do with my life. It's not going to change the way I am as a person. But it fuels you. And we all need that. Every athlete, every competitor needs something to fuel them. It's going to happen throughout the year."
After an off-season with little time to relax, Wade got back to doing what he prefers on Sunday - playing basketball. With a dozen NBA pals, Wade entertained a crowd of about 15,000 fans at the Summer Groove charity game in a glorified exhibition of dunking, 3-pointers and a half-time concert by Flo Rida.
Common, the Grammy-winning rapper, was on one bench and Floyd Mayweather Jr, the boxer, coached Wade's team.
Mayweather wouldn't talk about the status of talks with Manny Pacquiao for the fight that the boxing world most wants to see. But ask him about the prospects of Wade, James and Bosh playing together, and Mayweather spoke volumes.
"Hopefully, LeBron James has the same chemistry with the Heat that he had with the Cavaliers," Mayweather said. "Maybe a little bit better."
James wasn't there for the festivities Sunday, nor was Bosh. But a giant spike in Heat "buzz" has been apparent since they announced they would play together. Outside the arena for the charity, parking lots that typically charge US$10 (Dh36.7) a spot for NBA games wanted $20. Fans begged for autographs, and Wade said there was more excitement than after the 2006 title.
"It's going to be crazy," Dorell Wright, the former Heat forward, said.
He would know.
Wright was one of the players who left Miami this summer to make room for all the upgrades to the roster. He is a close friend of Wade, who is a godfather to Wright's son. But when Golden State made Wright an offer, he decided that it was time for a new beginning.
"I'm just glad I'm getting out of the way," Wright said.
The new nameplates are already up in the Miami locker room. "James 6" and "Bosh 1" have already been installed just down from Wade's cubicle. The proximity of the stars, within about 12 feet of each other, is not sitting well with Wade, who joked the new arrangement won't work when reporters crowd in for post-game interviews.
It is his lone complaint of the summer.
The Heat kept Udonis Haslem, Joel Anthony and Jamaal Magloire, traded Michael Beasley and added Zydrunas Ilgauskas and Mike Miller. Deals with Magloire and Juwan Howard will be announced later this week. Carlos Arroyo is on the cusp of returning, and James Jones said on Sunday that he will be coming back as well - even though it will be at a lower salary. "I have to come back. This is not something I could pass up," Jones said.
In a few days, Miami has gone from a young team to a veteran one with title aspirations. "When it comes to the top players and the excitement of players, you can't put a price tag on experience and we're bringing that in with guys like Juwan and Big Z and Mike Miller and of course UD coming back," Wade said. "We went last year and the last two years of having a pretty young team of guys. Now we're a veteran-type team."
And that team will have a bulls-eye, Wade said. He expects that, when the NBA schedule comes out in a few weeks, teams around the league will check first to see when they're playing the Los Angeles Lakers, the two-time defending champions, then when they will face the Heat.
"We're not even the champions but we're going to get that kind of attention from teams," Wade said. "It's a respect factor."
That "respect factor," as he put it, is what matters most.
* AP
Company%20profile
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Ponti
Sharlene Teo, Pan Macmillan
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MATCH INFO
Uefa Champions League semi-final, first leg
Barcelona v Liverpool, Wednesday, 11pm (UAE).
Second leg
Liverpool v Barcelona, Tuesday, May 7, 11pm
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KILLING OF QASSEM SULEIMANI
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Did you know?
Brunch has been around, is some form or another, for more than a century. The word was first mentioned in print in an 1895 edition of Hunter’s Weekly, after making the rounds among university students in Britain. The article, entitled Brunch: A Plea, argued the case for a later, more sociable weekend meal. “By eliminating the need to get up early on Sunday, brunch would make life brighter for Saturday night carousers. It would promote human happiness in other ways as well,” the piece read. “It is talk-compelling. It puts you in a good temper, it makes you satisfied with yourself and your fellow beings, it sweeps away the worries and cobwebs of the week.” More than 100 years later, author Guy Beringer’s words still ring true, especially in the UAE, where brunches are often used to mark special, sociable occasions.
New process leads to panic among jobseekers
As a UAE-based travel agent who processes tourist visas from the Philippines, Jennifer Pacia Gado is fielding a lot of calls from concerned travellers just now. And they are all asking the same question.
“My clients are mostly Filipinos, and they [all want to know] about good conduct certificates,” says the 34-year-old Filipina, who has lived in the UAE for five years.
Ms Gado contacted the Philippines Embassy to get more information on the certificate so she can share it with her clients. She says many are worried about the process and associated costs – which could be as high as Dh500 to obtain and attest a good conduct certificate from the Philippines for jobseekers already living in the UAE.
“They are worried about this because when they arrive here without the NBI [National Bureau of Investigation] clearance, it is a hassle because it takes time,” she says.
“They need to go first to the embassy to apply for the application of the NBI clearance. After that they have go to the police station [in the UAE] for the fingerprints. And then they will apply for the special power of attorney so that someone can finish the process in the Philippines. So it is a long process and more expensive if you are doing it from here.”
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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
