Dion Waiters missed the first three months of the season while he was still recovering from ankle surgery he had last year, and the veteran guard has slowly been worked back into the rotation over the past two weeks. Following the Miami Heat’s blowout loss to the Milwaukee Bucks on Tuesday, he made it clear he wants a bigger role.
Waiters played 12 largely meaningless minutes and finished with just two points on 1-of-4 shooting. While speaking with reporters after the game, he became quite animated in expressing his desire to play more.
“F— patience,” Waiters said, via David Furones of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel. “I want to play. I’ve been patient.”
After making his season debut on Jan. 2, Waiters feels he is ready to be turned loose. He played just 10 minutes in a win over the Memphis Grizzlies on Saturday, and he obviously has not suffered any setbacks. He said he has been “patient long enough” and was asked what he would like the next step to be.
“Get back to my regular self, get me back in the starting lineup, s— like that,” Waiters said. “That’s what it is. You all know what it is. F—. I’m tired of this. I’m being patient right now.”
Waiters had his season cut short by an ankle injury last December, so he is anxious to get back to playing full-time. He was playing a career-high 30.6 minutes per game and averaging 14.3 points through 30 games before he went down last year.
There had been some questions about whether or not Waiters was in shape recently, and the veteran went off about them. With the Heat now 21-21, you can understand why he wants a chance to contribute more.
