HEAT BEAT KNICKS FOR WAITERS
ORLANDO, Fla. — The Waiters is over, and the Knicks again were left empty-handed.
Syracuse product Dion Waiters, whom acting team president Steve Mills first pursued in a 2013-14 trade, agreed to terms Wednesday to stay with thew Heat in a deal reportedly worth $52 million over four years.
According to a source, the Knicks initial offer was for more than $11 million per year.
Instead of the inking of Waiters, the Knicks announced the signing of their first-round lottery pick Frank Ntilikina to his rookie contract — four years, $18.5 million.
They still have yet to sign anyone other than their own players, Ron Baker and Ntilikina. The post-Phil Jackson era has not been splashy.
Referring indirectly to the Waiters rejection, Knicks coach Jeff Hornacek said, “I’m sure management had a thought. Sometimes these thoughts pan out. Sometimes they don’t. We’re still hopeful good things happen for us.’’
Horn ace ki snot permitted to talk about free agents until Thursday’sy signinggg day.y Thoughg Waiterss is a shooting guard, he is 25, fittingtting exactly into their age frameme as Mills is eyeing a total rebuild if he can ship Carmelolo Anthony out of town.
That the Knicks have been shut outut is no shock to Hor-Hornacek.
“The amountamount of space we had wasas not conducive to try to go after those big free agents,ents, because of the amountt of money they’re makingg nowadays ,’’ the coach said .“Sometimes patiencece will pay off for you. We’lle’ll wait and see what managementement winds up doing.’’
Waitersers played in 46 games last season with Miami, had his career year, averaging vera ging 15.8 points and 4.3 assists per game. His improve-improvement waswas immense, but an ankle sprainprain derailed his year.
The Knicks thought they hadad a real shot att Wait-Waiters. They’vehey’ve scouted him intenselyly since hee played at Syracuse. Mills also has strong ties with Philadelphia high school basketball and always has taken a keen interest in Waiters, who had a troubled upbringing in Philadelphia.
Were the Knicks used in the negotiating process? Possibly.
“I am enjoying this thing,” Waiters told the Miami Herald late last season. “Whatever it takes [this summer], I just want to be here. What we’re building here, we have a chance to do something special.”
In April , Waiters wrote an intriguing piece on the Players’ Tribune website saluting Heat president Pat Riley, saying he reminded him of a mafia boss.
Waiters, known as a character in the locker room, wrote:
“I walked into his off ice and … damn. The hair was slicked back, and he was wearing one of those suits of his, you know, real O.G., looking like a million bucks. Behind him, he’s got photos of all his championship teams lining the walls. He’s wearing one of his nine rings. He’s sitting there looking like [Robert] De Niro in ‘Casino.’ He’s looking like the boss. He’s looking like he’s seen it all, because he has.”
“I knew a change was going to be made. ... We didn’t know what. We knew something had to be done.” ‑ Kyle O’Quinn, on Phil Jackson firing