After a Miami Heat 106-82 loss to the Atlanta Hawks, the Heat have struggled with created the “right” lineup moving forward now that they’re more healthy. Dion Waiters relayed his frustration last night after the 24-point loss in Atlanta.
The Miami Heat’s Dion Waiters has never been quiet about his frustrations with any organization, but with the Heat, it is fairly surprising that he is ‘doesn’t know what’s going on.’
Ira Winderman of the Sun Sentinel gave his thoughts on the situation and quoted Waiters below:
"“After playing 11 minutes in last Wednesday’s season debut in the road victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers, Waiters has been held out of the past two games by coach Erik Spoelstra, Friday night’s victory over the Washington Wizards at AmericanAirlines Arena and Sunday’s loss to the Atlanta Hawks at State Farm Arena.The initial impression was of being brought along steadily, based on the boost he provided in the victory over the Cavaliers.‘Of course I envisioned that,’ he said. ‘You come back, you work your way slow and steadily. You keep increasing the minutes, at the end of the day. I don’t know what’s going on, so I can’t tell you.’Waiters’ return came with Dwyane Wade sidelined by a stomach ailment. With Wade back, the rotation has reverted to Wade as the first guard off the bench, Tyler Johnson as the second guard and Derrick Jones Jr. rounding out the second-unit wing rotation.”"
Winderman emphasizes an important point by saying that in Waiters’ 3 games back in a Heat jersey, Miami has only played him 11 minutes. And that was only because Dwyane Wade took most of the time as the backup shooting guard and Jones Jr. held tight to the wing position, as both of them have been playing very well lately.
Unfortunately for Waiters, this lineup below will be the roster move for the foreseeable future.
Potential Starters:
- PG, Justise Winslow
- SG, Josh Richardson
- SF, Rodney McGruder
- PF, James Johnson
- C, Hassan Whiteside
Potential Bench:
- SG, Dwyane Wade
- PF, Kelly Olynyk
- C, Bam Adebayo
- SG, Tyler Johnson
- SF, Derrick Jones Jr.
- SG, Dion Waiters
- SG, Wayne Ellington
- PF, Udonis Haslem
- PG, Goran Dragic (injured)
The glaring points from the roster outlined above is how low Waiters is and that Goran Dragic will eventually come back as a Heat starter.
Therefore, the confusion and frustration of Waiters’ will most likely continue, unless head coach Erik Spoelstra follows this Hawks’ loss with more L’s, then Heat nation will riot and want Waiters in there.
Tune in Tuesday night at 7:30 PM Eastern against the Denver Nuggets at home in South Florida, maybe Waiters will get his chance in the American Airlines Arena?