The Miami Heat must do everything possible to keep Dion Waiters for some damn buckets.
Unfortunately for head coach Erik Spoelstra and the Miami Heat, the first half of the season wasn’t ideal. They couldn’t get their footing and went 11-30 through the first half of 16-17 (per Kristian Winfield of SB Nation). They were left for dead. Then it seemed they flipped a switch, led by a guy who won’t go down easy — guard Dion Waiters.
Man, did “Ball So Hard” really ball out. He put up 15.8 points and a career-high 4.3 assists per game, and shot the three ball exceptionally well. Waiters connected on 39.4 percent of his trey bombs, and he was lethal on corner triples on drive-and-kicks mostly from point man Goran Dragic, as he shot 51.8 percent on those. His shot-making lit a fire under this Miami basketball team in the second half of the year.
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Waiters is truly one of a kind. The guy has the swag this young Heat team needs going forward in their quasi-rebuild post-Dwyane Wade. He had his best NBA season this year, and showed flashes of the “clutch gene.” He has never lacked the confidence to be a big-time shot maker in this league. No one is disputing that; just take a look at the article he wrote recently for The Players’ Tribune.
The proof was in the pudding for the Heat. Between Jan. 14 and St. Patty’s Day, he was 10-21 on clutch shooting. We all remember when he big-timed the Golden State Warriors, with 33 points and a game-winner over Klay Thompson. Cue the memes.
Had he not gotten injured on Mar. 17 (he missed the next 36 games), I don’t think there’s any way the Heat don’t make the playoffs. Although Miami were only 23rd in clutch net rating over the scope of the whole season, they were elite when Waiters was doing his thing.
In the month of January, they had the best clutch net rating in the league (per nba.com). That was almost entirely due to “Google Me,” and they needed it. Most of this Heat team is young, and Waiters could develop into being a great leader for them to go to for years to come. It’s not just the improved shooting, though.
He established himself as the Heat’s second-best playmaker, with an assist rate of 23.8 percent, per Basketball Reference. Although the Heat have a decent young core of guards highlighted by Tyler Johnson, they are not the same team on both ends without Waiters in the lineup. The injury bug did get him this year, but I believe Riley and company need to shell out the necessary funds to keep the meme king in South Beach.
He’s a guy who is not afraid of the big moment, and he matured at an impressive rate. The young guys on this team rallied around him. And it was clear that they weren’t close to the same team without his presence on the floor. If Miami gets this right, they could be more dangerous than people think, especially if Justise Winslow can develop in the coming years.
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Personally, I don’t see a Gordon Hayward addition meshing well with the way the Heat are built, especially if Waiters does not return. They’d be better suited seeing how the young core can keep developing under Spoelstra, and see if they can get a few more good years out of the Dragic-oriented drive-and-kick offense. Hassan Whiteside has proven to be a potential All-Star big for them on the inside, too.
With the East still being pretty up for grabs outside of whoever LeBron James plays for, maybe Dion could lead a deep playoff push for the Heat, even as soon as next season. If they don’t get something done, maybe we’ll see him back in his hometown with the Philadelphia 76ers. That’d be an intriguing young nucleus, now wouldn’t it?
This guy’s talents are built for South Beach, though. I mean, what’s not to like about Kobe Wade matched with Riley for the foreseeable future? Additionally, Spoelstra has proven he can blend alpha personalities before. Your call, Mr. Riley. That player option of just over $3 million will not cut it to keep this guy’s level of production.
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