Dion Waiters to Miami
In what has been a truly mind-blowing move by Miami, Dion Waiters has agreed to become the newest member of the Miami Heat.
Free agent Dion Waiters signed a two-year, nearly $6M deal with Miami -- w/ player option. Details on @TheVertical. https://t.co/4DGkltXFVT
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@WojVerticalNBA) July 25, 2016
While he probably will not live up to being the 4th pick in the 2012 NBA Draft, Waiters did have a solid season last year with the Thunder averaging almost 10PPG last year. He also had a great Playoffs averaging 8.4 PPG and shooting almost 38% from behind the arc.
Grading
Mark D. Smith-USA TODAY Sports
In the wake of Dwyane Wade leaving Miami, Pat Riley has gone on a major FA spending spree having signed players like Wayne Ellington, James Johnson (like), and Willie Reed (really like). Dion Waiters is just the latest addition to a Heat team that I can't tell if they are trying to aim for the playoffs or the lottery.
As an NBA analyst, this is a great move for a Heat team that needs a bonafide 6th man. Look for Dion to fill in that role and excel in providing some scoring off the bench. In this sense, he somewhat reminds me of Michael Beasley. This is a low risk- high reward move by the Heat and, frankly, a major steal by the Heat given the market. Dion Waiters could have gotten an average salary of $10 million+ by other teams such as Philadelphia but instead chose Miami for roughly $6 million over 2 years (an average of $3 million vs $10 million). With this acquisition, here is the rotation for the Heat next year
2016-17 Heat Rotation
Starters | Bench | Reserves |
Goran Dragic | Briante Weber | N/A |
Josh Richardson | Dion Waiters | Tyler Johnson , Rodney McGruder , Wayne Ellington |
Justice Winslow | James Johnson | Luke Babbit, Stefan Jankovič |
Chris Bosh | Josh McRoberts | Derrick Williams, Okaro White, Udonis Haslem |
Hassan Whiteside | Willie Reed |
They will have to cut some players to get down to 15 (they currently have 18 on roster), but I wouldn't expect Dion to be one of those cuts (Rodney McGruder, Stefan Jankovic, and Okaro White are my picks to get cut unfortunately).
This is an excellent move by the Heat and I give them an A.
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