Heat Notes: Weber, Spoelstra, Waiters, Ellington

Briante Weber said he chose to sign with the Warriors instead of the Heat because he wanted a new challenge, relays Manny Navarro of The Miami Herald. Weber played one game for Miami after signing in April. He was waived in October and has spent this season with the Heat’s D-League affiliate in Sioux Falls. The 24-year-old point guard turned down offers of 10-day contracts from Miami and Charlotte to choose Golden State. “So I just felt like I’ve been with Miami and they haven’t picked me up by now,” Weber said, “then why continue to go down the same road? I figured I should pick something new and actually a team with a spot. They actually let somebody go to fill me in. That says a lot about the organization and about how they feel about me being potentially being here for longer than just 10 days. So I kind of picked a spot that was going to give me the best opportunity to expose myself and put myself on the radar where everybody else can see.”

There’s more news out of Miami:

  • Weber received good luck wishes from Heat coach Erik Spoelstra, according to the Associated Press. Spoelstra said he appreciates how Weber, who averaged 16.5 points, 7.5 rebounds, 7.4 assists and 3.3 steals at Sioux Falls, proved he deserves a shot at the NBA. “He’s put in the time,” Spoelstra said. “He hasn’t skipped a step. He approached every part of this as an opportunity to get better and everybody’s journey is different to get into this league. He’s a bona fide NBA player.”
  • Dion Waiters, who has enjoyed a career renaissance in Miami, attributed his success to Spoelstra’s ‘tough love.’ “It’s good bumping heads. It’s not anything bad. It’s like, `I’m challenging you. You can do more. Don’t settle for that,’” Waiters told Tom D’Angelo of the Palm Beach Post“I had coach [Jim] Boeheim. It was tough love at the end of the day. They see so much in me that he’s challenging me. I look at it as a challenge. He’s been doing a tremendous job keeping me motivated.” Now in his fifth NBA season, Waiters has been sublime of late; averaging 23.3 points on 52.2% shooting over his last eight games.
  • Now riding a 10-game winning streak, the Heat have adopted a “don’t believe the hype” mantra. As Anthony Chiang of the Palm Beach Post points out, Miami’s improbable streak includes wins over quality opposition- particularly the Warriors, Rockets, and Hawks. “We know where we’ve been at and where we want to be at, so we’re not satisfied,” Heat guard Wayne Ellington said. “Coach keeps telling us. But at the same time, he doesn’t really need to. We’re hungry, man. We know where we were at. Obviously it feels good to get some wins. But at the same time, we understand that we’ve got a ways to go to be where we want to be at.”
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