Photo Credit: AP Photo/Lynne Sladky
Dion Waiters: “I’d Rather Go 0-For-30, Than 0-For-9”
Low self-esteem has never been a problem for Dion Waiters, although his NBA career has been very strange so far, to say the least.
The Cavaliers’ 4th pick of the 2012 NBA draft, started off very promising in his first two years with Cleveland. It was a team that didn’t have the talent to make it to the playoffs, a young team, with an up-and-coming star in Kyrie Irving, but without any real veteran leaders, and without LeBron James.
Waiters averaged 14.7 and 15.9 points per game in his first two career years, even adding 3.0 assists. Dion Waiters both started and came off the bench for the Cavaliers. He also was having injury problems throughout his rookie season with never-ending sprained ankle problems and loose cartilage in his knee.
Still, Waiters was graded as the fourth best overall rookie by NBA.com, and placed fifth in NBA Rookie of the Year voting. People who haven’t noticed Waiters during his first couple of months in the league, had their eyes almost pop out when watching him at the Rising Stars challenge. He put on a show, and finished the game with 31 points and 7 assists. Including this insane back-and-forth shootout scene with Tim Hardaway Jr.
LeBron James came back to Cleveland in Waiters’ third year in the league and wasn’t impressed with the young man. Waiters was playing too selfishly, looking for ISO-plays, combined with some arrogance and bad shooting percentages. This lead to Waiters being traded to the Oklahoma City Thunder in a three-team trade that also involved the New York Knicks. During his 1.5 seasons with the Thunder, Waiters seemed to have had the same problems he had in his last year with the Cavs, and never was able to become more than a guy off the bench.
Last summer, Waiters signed with the Heat. Bosh was forced to ‘retire’ due to his illness, and Wade also left the team. The Heat were forced to rebuild around Whiteside and were in desperate need of some shooting power. The perfect situation for Waiters? Yes!
After a slow start to the season Waiters was just finding his groove, only to be ruled out for four weeks after an MRI revealed he had suffered a Pectineus tear. He returned to action on January 4, 2017 after missing 20 straight games. Ever since returning, he has been on a tear. Waiters is playing the best basketball of his career right now. The Heat have won eight straight games, and Waiters was named Eastern Conference Player of the Week this past monday.
Waiters has now scored in double figures in nine straight games, and is averaging 22.4 points, 4.8 rebounds, 5.8 assists and 3.0 3-pointers on 47 percent shooting over his last five. Over his last ten he is averaging 19.5 points, 5.2 assists, 4 rebounds per-game while shooting 44.2 percent from the field.
In an interview, Waiters now gave his outlook on his current confidence level and also spoke about his method as well.
Dion Waiters says he is playing with that "philly cheese swag."
— Shandel Richardson (@ShandelRich) January 31, 2017
He was also reffering to an old Kobe quote and told reporters that he’d rather go 0 for 30 than 0 for 9.
More Waiters: "I’d rather go 0 for 30 than 0 for 9 because you go 0 for 9 that means you stopped shooting.That means you lost confidence."
— Shandel Richardson (@ShandelRich) January 31, 2017
His confidence level is over 9000 at the moment, but one has to ask if the level Waiters is on right now is substainable. He still is only 25 years old. While we won’t have an answer to this right now, we should just enjoy the Waiters show down in Miami as long as it lasts…
Goran Dragic and Dion Waiters now want to be called 7-Eleven. "We're always open," Dion said. (Think about it.)
— Tim Reynolds (@ByTimReynolds) January 31, 2017
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gdT4EIIAPX8
