MIAMI, (Reuters) – Miami Heat fans overwhelmed a  website yesterday aimed at keeping six-times All-Star and  potential free agent Dwyane Wade with the team.
The site (www.wewantwade.com) crashed within hours of the  Heat’s announcement of its creation and technicians were moving  it to new servers to accommodate the interest, the Heat’s chief  marketing officer, Michael McCullough, told Reuters.

Wade, a Chicago native and the fifth overall pick in the  2003 NBA Draft, can become a free agent this summer and leave  Miami, his basketball home for the last seven years.

The “We Want Wade” website is part of a multifaceted  full-court press to keep the popular 28-year-old guard in a  Heat uniform.

Fans can send messages and videos, call a special hotline,  check out billboards throughout the region and perhaps see  their communities rename streets to honor the talented guard.

“We wanted to let him know the people in south Florida love  him and want him to stay right here,” McCullough said in a  telephone interview.

There is also a kit available that includes instructions on  what to do if one encounters Wade.

“If you happen to be at the same restaurant he is at, it’s  OK to give him a brief standing ovation or send a dessert to  his table, that’s very classy,” said McCullough.

“What you don’t want to do is ask him for an autograph, one  of his cars or a date.”

Wade appeared to enjoy the website.

“I didn’t expect anything like that,” he told reporters. “I  thought it was hilarious. But I appreciate it. I do, I really  do.”