A day after the Heat’s brass pledged its support for Dwyane Wade playing in the Olympics, Team USA men’s basketball managing director Jerry Colangelo said Wade could recapture his competitive fire by competing in the Beijing Games.

”He has a lot to prove to people and himself about this comeback,” Colangelo told The Miami Herald on Friday.

Colangelo’s challenge to Wade?

”I want him to have a little bit of an attitude about coming back from this injury,” Colangelo said he told Wade during a recent visit in Chicago.

Colangelo said ‘’some people may suspect he won’t or can’t” return to form from this injury.

“When he led [the Heat] to a championship, the tiger was in his eye. Through what’s happened with the injury, etc., he wasn’t quite the same guy mentally. This is a great opportunity for him to have an edge.”

The 12-man Olympic roster will be announced Monday in Chicago. Colangelo stopped short of saying Wade has a spot but talked about him in glowing terms: “I would be happy to have him on this team. I have great respect for him.”

A source close to Wade said Thursday that Wade had been awarded a spot.

Wade missed 31 games last season because of chronic soreness in his surgically repaired left knee. He had shockwave therapy on his knee in March and missed the final 21 games. Wade also endured the toughest season of his career as the Heat finished with a league-worst 15-67 record.

Colangelo said besides delivering a pointed message to Wade, he wanted to gauge his physical progress.

”It wasn’t to make a determination on his skills,” Colangelo said. “I know who he is as a player. What I saw was very encouraging.”

Colangelo left impressed with Wade’s explosiveness, but added that his timing was “off.”

”That’s to be expected,” Colangelo said.

Colangelo said on a scale of 1 to 10 (with 10 being the best), Wade’s trainer Tim Grover would give Wade an eight.

Colangelo said Wade has plenty of time to return to game shape. Team USA reconvenes for minicamp Friday in Las Vegas.

Dwyane Wade and LeBron James were riding around the streets on bicycles this weekend for charity, and now they are ready to go get gold in China for team UsA.

Coach K of Duke and Jerry Colangelo selected both Wade and James along with Kobe Bryant, Jason Kidd and Carmelo Anthony, as the USA goes after their first basketball gold medal since 1996.

This is Wade’s second Olympic’s, after he and his teammates walked away in 2004 very disappointed.

“One thing that really helped my confidence was when LeBron and C.P. came to Chicago and we played together,” said Wade, who missed 31 games last season, an absence that sent the Heat plummeting to a 15-67 record. “We really took it up a notch and it was very competitive and I was doing what I normally do, so I was feeling good.”

Colangelo came to Chicago to see Wade play and came away convinced the 6-foot-4 guard was healthy.

Wade never wondered whether he’d be able to get ready.

“It’s all about me being healthy,” he said. “I’ve never doubted my talent. It’s just making sure I’m healthy for the long haul. Once I knew that weeks and weeks ago, then I was confident in moving forward.”

Check out Dwyane Wade as an analyst. Not a bad job. But come on man, don’t give up your dominant playing, so soon!