Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Waiters taking his shots
Recent success notwithstanding, quality remains work in progress
MINNEAPOLIS — It is the shot that has pierced the collective psyches of more than a few of his NBA coaches. Yet Dion Waiters offers no apologies for the step-back, leaning, fading jumpers because, “That’s my shot.”
“I’ve been doing it for 25 years,” Waiters stressed, which is impressive by itself, considering the Miami Heat guard is 25.
For months, Heat coach Erik Spoelstra has attempted to reach common ground on Waiters’ shot of preference, just as Billy Donovan did last season with the Oklahoma City Thunder and Waiters’ Cleveland Cavaliers coaches did before that.
The fact the shots are falling amid the 10-game winning streak the Heat carry into today’s game against the Minnesota Timberwolves at the Target Center has made compromise easier, especially when there are games such as Saturday’s 125-102 victory over the Philadelphia 76ers, when those types of shots are kept to a minimum.
“Part of it is building efficiency and learning context of time-score, and flow of the game,” Spoelstra said. “There are times where that is the right shot and he has an ability to get to his sweet spots and get one off. There’s many contexts of the game where that’s not the right shot, and that’s what we’re trying to get to.”
While just about every step of the process runs counter to best shooting practices, the
conciliation has been to at least end with Waiters on balance, through work with Heat shooting consultant Rob Fodor and assistant coach Dan Craig. Nights such as Saturday, when Waiters shot 7 of 10 from the field and 5 of 6 on 3-pointers make it easier to accept compromises.
“I just tell myself now to stay on balance,” Waiters said. “Before, I used to fade a lot, and now the coaches here, Coach Rob, Coach D.C., they’re pounding me, ‘Dion, make the move, stay on balance.’ So now I make the move, I stay so balance.”
The move, itself, is the same as it ever was.
“It’s always that hard, stutter-dribble and just step back,” Waiters said. “That’s all I need just a little bit of space.
“Most of the time guys don’t really want me to get to the basket. So you give a little turn, you get your body moving a little bit, and you hit him hard with the step, and you see they always jump over to try to cut me off.”
Teammate Wayne Ellington, whose stroke ranks higher in terms of fundamentals, said Waiters’ form has recently passed the most important test.
“You’ve got to make it in order for it to be your shot,” he said, “but if you practice that, you’ve got to trust your training, if you’re going to implement it into your game. I’m a firm believer in shots that you work on, work on, work on, that becomes a part of your game.”
A part of his game that Waiters is not willing to cede.
“That’s my game,” he said. “That’s my shot. I’m going to shoot it. If I feel like I can get the separation, that’s what I want.”
Ellington said it is clear that Waiters is at ease.
“For me, first and foremost, shooting is a feeling, especially if it’s a shot that you work on,” he said. “They feel good to you, and it becomes like a second nature to you.”
Waiters said the work with the staff mostly has focused on the finish.
“We constantly work on it,” he said. “We don’t really work on the first part, because that’s natural. But if I’m going to do it, stay on balance, make the shot, now everyone is happy.”
Recently, that has been the case for the most part. But still, not always.
“It depends on context,” Spoelstra said. “Because there were two or three of those in the Golden State game against good defense and that’s the right shot. There’s some, when it’s earlier in the clock and we’re not in great rhythm, we can always get to that shot, then it’s not the right shot.
“So I don’t think necessarily labeling it as a taboo shot, more trying to build a basketball understanding of when to take that shot, when we need something else.” Or not. “Listen,” Waiters said, “I’m going to shoot it, regardless. That’s my shot.”