In terms of offense, Waiters is a throw back in many ways. He is an isolation heavy two guard that likes to take a lot of shots in the mid range. It is no coincidence that he had his best season and averaged career lows in number of shots between three feet and the three point line. Waiters took almost 67% of his shots at the rim and from the three point line. He shot decently at the rim, but he shoot a career best from three, with almost 40%. It will be interesting to see if Waiters can replicate that success from three this year. Without the three point shot falling, Waiters may not be a great player to have on the floor. He re-signed with Miami this summer and Waiters and the Heat have a great deal of confidence that he can help them get back to the playoffs and be a tough out for one of the top four East teams. The Heat do not really have any players as dynamic as Waiters. As much as I do dislike his game sometimes, Waiters has a knack of getting to the rim and he can make difficult shots. The Heat have had success with Waiters because they have helped him realize that he needs to shoot more threes and not take too many shots away from the rim. Although not a great defender in Cleveland, Waiters is playing hard and defending for Miami. Waiters has a chance to be very good for the Heat. If he has a great season, I could see the Heat as the five or six seed in the East with a legitimate chance to upset someone in the playoffs. If he struggles, the Heat might have trouble getting into the playoffs. To have your franchise's fate rest with Dion Waiters aka Google Me aka Headache aka Downhill Dion aka Kobe Wade is a scary thought, but Miami is a strange place.
A great thing about Basketball Reference is that under the names of players you can see their various nicknames. For some, it's ones that you know like Lebron James' page has King as one of his nicknames. If you find yourself staring at Dion Waiters' page you will see four nicknames. They are Downhill Dion, Google Me, Headache, and Kobe Wade. I am not sure what to say after that, but Kobe Wade was apparently what he told his college teammates to call him. Downhill Dion is solid, Google Me is fantastic, and Headache seems to fit more than the others. Dion Waiters was the fourth pick in the 2012 NBA Draft out of Syracuse University. At the time, many questioned the selection by the Cavaliers because Waiters had not started for his college team and seemed to be a player that would not fit with Kyrie Irving, whom they had drafted the year before. There are no take backs on draft night and Dion Waiters joined the Cavs and Irving. He played two and a half seasons with the Cavs and took a lot of shots and lost a lot of games. He averaged over 14 points per game his first two seasons, but he shot under 44% from the field in both of those seasons including 31% and 36% from three. Everything changed after his second season because the Cavs welcomed back Lebron James and it was time for Kyrie and Dion to go to school and learn how to win. Dion Waiters lasted 33 games before GM Lebron decided to trade Dion away in a deal that brought Cleveland JR Smith and Iman Shumpert and sent Dion Waiters to Oklahoma City. Waiters did well in Oklahoma City, but the Thunder decided to let him leave via free agency. It seemed as if Dion Waiters might be out of the league, but like so many before him Dion ended up with the Miami Heat and had a great season.
In terms of offense, Waiters is a throw back in many ways. He is an isolation heavy two guard that likes to take a lot of shots in the mid range. It is no coincidence that he had his best season and averaged career lows in number of shots between three feet and the three point line. Waiters took almost 67% of his shots at the rim and from the three point line. He shot decently at the rim, but he shoot a career best from three, with almost 40%. It will be interesting to see if Waiters can replicate that success from three this year. Without the three point shot falling, Waiters may not be a great player to have on the floor. He re-signed with Miami this summer and Waiters and the Heat have a great deal of confidence that he can help them get back to the playoffs and be a tough out for one of the top four East teams. The Heat do not really have any players as dynamic as Waiters. As much as I do dislike his game sometimes, Waiters has a knack of getting to the rim and he can make difficult shots. The Heat have had success with Waiters because they have helped him realize that he needs to shoot more threes and not take too many shots away from the rim. Although not a great defender in Cleveland, Waiters is playing hard and defending for Miami. Waiters has a chance to be very good for the Heat. If he has a great season, I could see the Heat as the five or six seed in the East with a legitimate chance to upset someone in the playoffs. If he struggles, the Heat might have trouble getting into the playoffs. To have your franchise's fate rest with Dion Waiters aka Google Me aka Headache aka Downhill Dion aka Kobe Wade is a scary thought, but Miami is a strange place.
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AuthorDennis Dow Archives
October 2017
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