Dion Waiters has just become a valuable asset for the Miami Heat
Is Dion Waiters the Miami Heat’s big fish, or simply bait?
South Florida is known for great weather, beautiful beaches and a lavish living. But when you hear Dion Waiters end his post game interview by saying he finally found a home and is here to stay, it is in large part because of the Miami Heat’s organization.
However fans should beware of Waiters’ enthusiasm and take it with the same grain of salt that should have been taken when Joe Johnson and Luol Deng proclaimed their love for wanting to stay last season.
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The truth is that much like Deng and Johnson, there may be no long-term future for Waiters in Miami. Which is a scenario that would be hard for some fans to imagine after watching him tie his career high twice–33 points–in back-to-back wins against the Milwaukee Bucks and Golden State Warriors. The Sun-Sentinel’s Ira Winderman has a reason why the audience should be convinced though:
"“If, for instance, Dion puts together a few more games such as Saturday, then in today’s’ NBA economy, he is going to be starting a new contract at $10 million or beyond… So my alternate theory (moronic as it might seem to some, or at least one) is instead to try to spin both into tangible currency, namely draft picks, at the Feb. 23 trading deadline, or perhaps even a low-priced veteran with Bird Rights. It beats the alternative of Waiters and Johnson potentially walking out that door in July for nothing in return.”"
The best-case scenario, for a fan living in the moment, is the belief that the Heat found another 6-foot-4 shooting guard who is unafraid to take shots–whether good or bad–in the clutch. How could you blame them following a five-game performance that featured a 22-point per game average on 51 percent shooting from two and 54 percent shooting from beyond the three-point line?
The best-case scenario, for Miami, is to use the streaky 2-guard as a way to gain.
On the season, Waiters is a 40 percent shooter from two and 37 percent from three. And for as cold-blooded as he was with his game winning basket against the Warriors, his crunch time numbers show that he is only averaging one point in the last five minutes (or less) when the Heat are in five point games. Not exactly a fourth quarter go-to guy.
As Winderman wrote, the smart move would be to leverage Waiters’ success. Build him up enough to make him attractive to a contender while not having to jeopardize the development of the injured Justise Winslow, Josh Richardson or Tyler Johnson. The ideal result would give Miami the ability to move Waiters for a mid-to-late first-round pick, rather than trade a commodity like Goran Dragic just to have him elevate his new team to the point where there pick still falls in a similar range.
Yet moving Waiters instead comes with its advantage. One being that the Heat can hold onto Dragic as an off-season asset.
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Regardless of how it is looked at, Waiters will eventually be out the door. All you have to hear is that he told his former college assistant coach that he was betting on himself by taking Miami’s $2.9 million deal. Factor in that he is currently playing himself into an upgraded contract worth way more than the $3 million player option he holds for next season, and that the Heat are likely seeking a bigger fish in free agency this summer, and it becomes evident that Waiters will not likely be in South Beach next season. It is just a matter of who blinks first.