Waiters on Whiteside: ‘Just bite your tongue’

MIAMI — Dion Waiters offered pointed advice to Miami Heat teammate Hassan Whiteside during a Friday appearance on ESPN.

Asked by host Jalen Rose on the network’s “Get Up!” morning show about Whiteside’s complaints about his minutes and role in the Heat offense during the regular season and playoffs, Waiters said it was a discussion better left in the locker room.

“As far as Hassan,” Waiters said, “sometimes I think the best thing to do is just bite your tongue sometimes at the end of the day, because either you’re gonna back it up with your play or then, once again, the internet, like I said, [is] a gift and a curse.

“So I think he should learn from this. But at the end of the day, it should motivate him. At the end of the day, you don’t cry about that.”

Whiteside was fined by the team for late-season complaints about his role and then was issued a rebuke by Heat President Pat Riley about not being properly prepared for the playoffs.

“Me, personally,” Waiters said, “whatever happens, whatever went on, I’d have gotten right in the gym: ‘I’m gonna prove myself. I’m going to prove to everybody else.’ ”

Sidelined since mid-January ankle surgery, Waiters said it was difficult not to be part of the Heat’s playoff series against his hometown Philadelphia 76ers, a bestof-seven series the Heat lost in five games.

“For me, personally, it was tough,” he said, “because that’s something I always dreamed about, just being home, in Philly, in the playoffs, the atmosphere, you know my family, my friends, everybody who watched me grow up, I wasn’t able to partake in that.

“It was so hard to watch. I felt I let my team down, but there’s nothing I could do but just try to get better and come back stronger next year.”