As strong as the four heroes, have they all surpassed their respective draft templates? Wade far exceeded expectations

As a famous group in NBA history, the members of the Four Heroes are James, Wade, Anthony, and Paul. These four have established deep friendships since the early stages of their careers, especially James, Anthony and Paul have met each other since high school. Now the only four heroes who are still playing in the league are James and Paul. Wade and Anthony announced their retirement in 2019 and 2022 respectively. Both of them have now become members of the Hall of Fame. In the future, after James and Paul retire, they will undoubtedly follow the footsteps of their two friends and be inducted into the Hall of Fame. So looking back at the careers of the four heroes of Fengchen, have they all surpassed the draft templates set by the outside world for them? Let’s take a look together next!

4. Anthony (draft template: George Gervin)

Anthony made a name for himself early, and after entering college, he became one of the best freshmen in NCAA history. Under his leadership, Syracuse University also successfully won the March Crazy Championship. In the 2003 draft, Anthony was selected by the Nuggets in the third pick in the first round. On the NBA stage, he quickly realized his talent. He averaged 20+ per game in a rookie season.

Later, Anthony gradually reached the peak, became a regular visitor to the All-Stars. In his best season, he was selected into the All-Squad many times. In 2013, he also won the only scoring champion in his career. That season, he averaged 28.7 points per game in the regular season. Anthony in the playoffs has never won the championship. His best result in leading the team was to lead the Nuggets to the division finals in 2009.

Anthony's draft template George Gervin, he is also a scoring player in the NBA. Although Gervin has only played 10 seasons in the NBA, he was not only selected for the All-Star 9 times during this period, but also selected for the Best Team 7 times, 5 of which were also selected for the Best Team. Just looking at this point, his honor is enough to crush Anthony. You should know that the latter has never received this honor in his career. In addition, in Gewen's career, he also won the scoring top four times, during which time he averaged 33.1 points per game in the 1979-1980 season. Therefore, overall, even though Gewen does not have a championship, his personal achievements are still far above Anthony.

3. Wade (draft template: Francis)

Wade, who also participated in the 2003 draft, has no attention compared to Anthony. On the one hand, it is because he was an older rookie at that time, and on the other hand, he suffered serious injuries in college, so there are certain risks in choosing him. However, Wade was selected in the fifth pick in the first round, and the facts later proved that the Heat had a right bet. After entering the league, he quickly became one of the most powerful players in the younger generation.

Wade, who was also a third-year rookie in 2006, successfully led the Heat to win the first championship in team history, and he also became the first player in team history to win the FMVP. Later, after joining forces with James and Bosh, Wade helped the Heat win two consecutive championships, so he can be regarded as the greatest player in team history only by looking at the championship. In addition, in terms of personal honors, Wade has been selected for the Best First Team, Best Defensive Team, and has also won the scoring champion. At his peak, he said he was a player of the top three levels in the league.

In comparison, Francis's career seemed much dim. Although he has been selected as an All-Star three times, it is obvious that his achievements are incomparable to Wade. If he hadn't played with Yao Ming, he wouldn't have been so well-known in China. However, being surpassed by Wade is not a shame. Looking at history, Wade can even rank in the top three in the field of the defenders, so even Francis, the person involved, would not take this matter seriously.

2. Paul (draft template: Isaiah Thomas)

Compared to Paul who entered the league two years later, he quickly showed his potential. In the rookie season, he averaged 16.1 points, 5.1 rebounds, 7.8 assists and 2.2 steals per game. He was both offense and defense and immediately entered the public eye. Paul's progress in the future was even more rapid. By the third year of his career, he had become a popular candidate for MVP. In that season, he averaged 21.1 points, 4 rebounds, 11.6 assists and 2.7 steals per game. This year, he was selected for the All-First Team and the All-Defensive Second Team, winning the assist and steals king, and also led the team to the second record in the Western Conference.

Paul is now at the end of his career. Although he has not won the championship, his resume is already strong enough to be selected for the Best Team 11 times, 9 times, best defensive team 1, 5 times, and 4 times. Even compared with the draft template Isaiah Thomas, Paul's personal honor is not only not inferior, but he is even slightly better.

However, although Isiah Thomas does not have as many personal achievements as Paul's best team, his biggest advantage is that he has led the Pistons to win two championships, and he also won the FMVP in 1990. Under this circumstance, many people still think that Thomas is a better player than Paul.

1. James (draft template: Magic Johnson)

As the most popular star among these four people, the outside world has the highest expectations for James. Even though he graduated from high school, people have expected that he can one day become a league storefront or even a super giant at the level of the NBA Presidents Mountain. Now it seems that people obviously do not overestimate James' potential. He is indeed different from ordinary stars. In the second season of his career, he averaged 27+7+7 per game, and was selected into the Best Team in the third year. Then in the fourth year, he led the Cavaliers to win the first Eastern Conference championship in team history..

Later, James won 4 MVPs and 4 FMVPs one after another. These two honors were enough to make him among the top ten in history. In addition, 13 best teams, 5 best teams, 40,000 points and other achievements, James, who has not yet retired, has reached the point of looking for him. As the best star in the 1980s, Magic Johnson has won five championships in his career and has achieved 3 FMVPs, 3 MVPs, etc. However, his career is still too short, so this has led to his historical status ranking fifth in history.

From this perspective, James has undoubtedly surpassed his draft template Magic Johnson. In fact, some of the scouts who were "not optimistic" about James at the time, they set James' template as Pippen, but now he and James are obviously not at the same level.