Dion Waiters’ emergence took the Miami Heat’s offense to the next level last season. They will need more from him to continue to improve.
This series will take a look at each Miami Heat player’s shooting abilities and preferences, where they can improve and how they can best be leveraged.
Dion Waiters’ play from January on helped the Miami Heat make an historic late playoff push. His clutch shots made memories, and his swagger won hearts of fans in South Florida. It’s easy to get lost in the late-game heroics, but Waiters’ impact was more than just owning those moments. He was, along with backcourt partner Goran Dragic, the driving force behind Miami’s offense.
Waiters signed a four-year, $52 million deal this summer–by far the most lucrative contract of his career–after breaking out with the Heat last season. His averages of 15.8 points and 4.3 assists per game reflect the most well-rounded season of his career. His 11 drives per game ranked sixth in the NBA, and he and Dragic were the only teammates to each average at least that many. Miami’s drive-and-kick offense was built on them getting to the rim, and finding open teammates along the perimeter.
It was a tale of two halves for Waiters last season, especially from 3-point range. Waiters got healthy by the start of 2017 and, by February, had hit his stride. Before the All-Star game, he shot 42.2 percent and 38.7 percent from 3-point range on 4.4 attempts per game. After the All-Star game, he shot 43 percent and 41.5 percent from 3-point range on 5.4 attempts per game.
The following chart breaks out Waiters’ post-All-Star game numbers from his total regular season shot performance.
Dion Waiters' shot chart for the full season, vs after the All-Star break alone. 👀 pic.twitter.com/R5rXCzEmpb
— All U Can Heat (@AllUCanHeat1) August 29, 2017
Where Waiters needs to improve is finishing at the rim, where he made just 43.8 percent of his shots last season. It’s unclear why he struggles near the rim. It seems that sometimes he just loses focus after driving by his defender.
He’s never been a particularly efficient finisher, and needs to get better if opponents are truly going to respect that part of his game.
Next: Re-living Dion Waiters' breakout season
The Heat are hoping Waiters can lose his streaky bad habits. At 25 years old, he still has time to get better. After signing him to a four-year deal, the Heat are banking on that happening.