Dwyane Wade is suddenly becoming an outside threat for the Bulls

INDIANAPOLIS – Dwyane Wade never expected to pencil in “three-point shooter’’ on his Hall of Fame resume.

Then again, the 34-year-old never thought he would be tossing a Miami Heat jersey to the side to wear the red and white of his hometown team, either.

“Well, I mean I work on it every day, and my teammates give me confidence to shoot it,’’ Wade said of his sudden success from beyond the three-point line. “There’s not one time since I’ve been here that I shot a three and someone told me not to shoot it.

“So having confidence is huge, and outside of that just doing what I need to do [so far this season]. Some nights I’m going to be a little flat, shot might be flat, but some nights I’m going to be very aggressive.’’

That was definitely the case in Friday’s loss to the New York Knicks, as Wade scored 35 points, shooting 5-for-7 from three-point range to move him to 10-for-19 (53 percent) from that distance through the first five games of the season.

By the way, this after shooting 7-for-44 (16 percent) from beyond the three-point line all of last season with the Heat, and a career 28 percent shooter from out there in his first 13 years in the Association.

The explanation for it?

According to coach Fred Hoiberg, it’s a mix of Wade adding something new to his game like most aging superstars understand that they have to do, as well as playing in an offense that asks him to shoot from long range.

“The big thing is he’s stepping up and shooting with confidence,’’ Hoiberg said. “He’s working a lot on it. He’s putting a lot of time into it. His routine at the shootaround in the mornings is taking a lot of three-point shots and then he repeats that with his pregame warmup. He is emphasizing it. We’re working on his footwork and finishing his shot. It’s all about confidence. The fact he shot it well in the preseason has carried.’’

Wade even joked last week that Hoiberg was his shooting coach, after the two were working on the shot after a recent practice.

But jokes aside, that long-range jumper might be exactly what prolongs Wade’s career. If he can transform himself into an outside threat and still remain athletic enough to attack the rim, good luck to opposing defenders.

“Everything has been good as far as Dwyane and his shot,’’ Hoiberg said. “We still have to utilize him in isolation and in the mid-post. In our opinion, it makes him really hard to guard if he’s out there knocking down that shot. That opens up things for him to drive to the basket.’’

Rookie blues

The coaching staff was hoping that rookie Denzel Valentine wouldn’t fall too far behind when he missed most of the preseason with a sprained left ankle, but according to Hoiberg, behind was exactly where the 14th overall pick was in the early part of the regular season.

“Yeah, sure,’’ Hoiberg said, when asked if he felt the injury slowed Valentine’s progress. “Any rookie that comes into the league, in Denzel’s case he got the half of one preseason game and that’s when you can work some of the kinks out. It’s when the learning curve starts. It was unfortunate. He’s going to continue to work. He’ll get his opportunities as the year goes along and I’m confident he’ll play well.’’