Was Dion Waiters Angling for a Transfer From Syracuse & Then Backed Off?
D.A. | Apr 21, 2011 | Comments 12
ThePhiladelphiaPhotographer.com
If we’re to believe a young athlete’s Twitter feed, Dion Waiters will stay Orange for at least another season.
“Ohk for everybody wanting to kno the answer YES I’m coming back to syracuse next year”
If Waiters tweet can be believed (and that’s a big if), it indicates a couple things. For starters, Waiters-gate wasn’t just Boeheim-invented gossip. By making an event out of his return to SU, Dion is acknowledging there was indeed the possibility he would leave.
It would also appear from Dion’s tweet the choice was made by the player, not the coach. It’s hard to imagine Boeheim was stupid enough to nonchalantly hand private information to the media regarding the potential departure of a player. Dion may have been driving the bus on a potential transfer, because the NBA was never an option. Maybe he originally had qualms about being coached by Boeheim again, but realized the grass isn’t always greener and decided to stay.
Assuming he really will be back, Syracuse fans should be rejoicing. Egomaniacal tendencies aside, the Philly guard is worth having on the SU roster. Sure, there were growing pains during his freshman season. But his own cousin’s pains were far more severe, and now Scoop is the team’s leader (for better or worse).
Waiters may be the most talented player on the Orange. When he feels his offensive game, he can light up the scoreboard with the best of ‘em. Pump out all the clichés and hyperbolic expressions you’d like – you still won’t be overestimating Dion’s potential.
Granted, the guy’s been known to trip over himself a bit. It was his supreme confidence as a scorer that allowed him to explode for a career-high 18 points against Marquette (after having only scored in double figures twice in 22 prior games). But that same confidence led to ignorance about his defensive deficiencies, and repeated clashes with The Per’fesser.
We can only hope that Waiters matures and the side effects of his cockiness disappear. His arrogance is fun to watch, but only if it’s a force for good. There’s going to be a logjam at the guard position next season. Someone deserving of floor time will be squeezed out of it, and if Dion’s that guy, then he needs to respond the appropriate way: by putting his head down and working even harder.
Most of Jim Boeheim’s recent public utterances have been questionable, but one thing he said makes a ton of sense:
“I think I heard on a radio show somebody saying we have too many players coming back. That’s a good thing. I never thought it was a bad thing to have too many good players. I always thought it was bad to not have enough.”
With Dion back in the fold, intra-team competition should breed competitiveness. As long as everyone is focused on the same goal – winning a National Championship – they have the talent to deliver.
Posted: Andrew Kanell
Tired of you dogging Dion’s D. Did you not watch him play? He was clearly the most active of the guards on the defensive end. No one was stellar but Dion was as good, if not better, than anyone else on team. He clearly made more effort as season progressed. He is a (rare) kid who has better effort than attitude.
Dion’s defense was better than KJ’s and that’s the truth.
The Fizz gets off on bogus speculations and random jabs. I dont know why they don’t just stick to talking about facts and quit posting things just to hear themselves talk.
If this is the final truth and Waiters remains at SU, this is very good for the team. The competition at guard should help to improve everyone and give MCW and Cooney the opportunity to learn the college game at a reasonable pace. Dion can do all the things that Triche and Scoop can do and is only going to get better on both ends of the floor. As long as he learns from this fiasco and puts in the effort (in practice and in the classroom) I think he will be rewarded with play time and a share of the spotlight.
I see major problems popping up next season when Dion doesn’t get the playing time he thinks he deserves. Coach Boeheim is going to split the time between Triche/Waiters and MCW/Cooney. The other thing that you have to remember is once you get into Boeheim”s DOG HOUSE,the going only gets a lot tougher.
Dion is in the dog house and he isn’t going to see a lot of playing time. Next season is going to be very interesting.
Why do you guys always put words in people’s mouth and make things up?!?!?!?
@ Nate and Jay – Of course this is speculation. Logically, it makes sense to me that if Dion is the one announcing his return to SU, it must have always been his decision and not Boeheim’s. Is there a chance that I am wrong? You bet.
It’s not like The Fizz created rumors out of nowhere that Dion might not come back. We’re just reacting to facts that are already public, and trying to make sense out what it clearly a very confusing situation.
Thanks for reading and thanks for the feedback.
-Kanell
the problem with JB, is that he’s never been a good in game tactician when it comes to substitutions. He usually gets his 7 man rotation, especially when the BE starts and then never changes. VERY RIGID ! and i agree that he has a dog house which is hard to get out of. JB has lost really quality players almost every year, because he doesn’t play his bench.
If Melo gets conditioned, Baye gains some weight, and Reilly ‘s foots OK and he develops like Jackson, we’re loaded at center. IF CJ returns, we’re solid at forward, and incredibly stacked at guard. We may even have a 1/2 court offense with a 3 shooter ! Scoop needs to be a 1 guard and play smart, not stupid, and JB needs to learn how to better use his bench …..
Talking about transfer rumors ….. heard nothing, but will Mookie EVER see the court again in a game … seriously doubt it.
Great conversation going here guys. Good stuff. Yeah, I think JB’s got a golden opp. to do some big things this year with all the depth and talent. If he can just steer the ship, they could make a very deep run.
And for the guys getting cranky about the Fizz – I definitely don’t think Kanell’s work was all that irrational. I think it was pretty straight forward and sound reasoning – if Dion was driving the bus on this, it must’ve been a transfer situation. He may not have and AK mentioned that. Everyone would do well by just chilling out and not getting all huffy – just enjoy the Fizz mojo. Thanks for reading.
Some seriously flawed logic there, Andrew K–Waiters’ tweet doesn’t indicate that there was any substance to Boeheim’s comment. It indicates the desire to end speculation about an issue that is floating in the media/blogs.
The desire to put the issue to rest days nothing about whether there was ever any substance to the issue. Maybe there was, maybe there wasn’t.
For all the fans who have decided that next year’s team has incredible depth and top level talent, you’re seriously jumping the gun. Whether there’s great depth depends on whether a number of players have serious talent, and we won’t know how much talent the three incoming freshmen have until next season gets going. Nor will anyone have any idea whether Riley has improved until the season starts. Nor will anyone have any idea how much improvement to expect from last year’s freshmen until the season starts.
There’s reason to hope, but not nearly enough reason to “expect” great things next year.
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