Dion Waiters signed with the Lakers on Friday, but it will be “a few games” before he makes his debut with the team, coach Frank Vogel told Kyle Goon of The Orange County Register. Waiters, who went through his first practice with his new team Saturday, has barely played this season after falling out of favor in Miami. That’s why Vogel plans to bring him along slowly, unlike Markieff Morris, who played right away after joining the Lakers two weeks ago.
“(Morris had) been playing games for the Pistons; Dion’s played three games this year,” Vogel said. “So it’s a matter of acclimating, getting used to our system, getting a few practices under his belt.”
The 28-year-old guard is ready for a fresh start after a difficult season with the Heat that included three suspensions. The first step was getting to know his new teammates, including LeBron James, whom Waiters briefly played alongside in Cleveland.
“We all grew up on the AAU circuit and things like that, so it wasn’t that hard,” Waiters said. “I could easily just come in here and be myself. I don’t have to be nobody I’m not. So they opened the doors for me and welcomed me in with open arms, so it’s been smooth. It’s been really, really good.”
There’s more Lakers news to pass along:
- Waiters said the team asked about his off-court issues in Miami before deciding to sign him, but that part of the interview was short, Goon adds in the same story. General manager Rob Pelinka was Waiters’ agent for five years, so they already have a relationship in place. “At the end of the day, I’m grown,” Waiters said. “So you learn from your mistakes, at the end of the day. We don’t got to keep drilling on the past, things like that. You live and you learn. And I did that.”
- Although they have much bigger goals in mind, the Lakers enjoyed clinching a playoff spot with Friday’s win over the Bucks, relays Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN. It was especially important for James, who missed the postseason last year for the first time in more than a decade. “I came here to put this team and put this franchise back where they needed to be,” he said. “The league is not what it is if the Lakers are not winning. And that was one of my responsibilities, one of my goals when I came here.”
- The Clippers have replaced the Celtics as the Lakers’ most intense rival, claims Arash Markazi of The Los Angeles Times. They occupy the top two spots in the Western Conference and will have their third meeting of the season this afternoon.
It DOES take a while to break in new WAITERS !!
The Clippers are the Lakers’ biggest competition this season, but they won’t be a legitimate rival until they win multiple championships. It could happen, but it hasn’t yet. Same thing could have been said during the years in which the Blazers, Kings and Spurs were competitors during the Shaw and Kobe era. Only the Spurs became became a legitimate rival. Multiple championships required.
Shaq? Maybe I was thinking about the Shaw-Shaq redemption.
The Shaw-Shaq redemption. You sir, are a true Laker fan.
I partially agree, but those other teams didn’t also play in LA. It’ll be an even bigger rivalry once they’ve both won championships, but the fact that they’re both so relevant in the same city is probably the reasoning.
Yeah that is a valid point. I still think it will take more than one ring for the Clippers to be a true rival to the Lakers. Until then they are just competition. And get that Clippers house built sooner rather than later. This sharing thing should never have been allowed.
Also looking at the plans for that Clippers home, it looks insane. One thing I can’t deny about the Clippers…they have an owner wants to make that franchise great. Speaking of insane…that guy may be the good kind for the Clippers.
I’m assuming that even though Steve Balmer is the richest owner in the NBA, he’s having a TON of trouble getting the LA taxpayer money to be allotted for a brand new stadium for the Clippers. It doesn’t help being the team they’ve been historically — with the Lakers, Dodgers, USC Football, Angles, Kings — all having larger fanbases (maybe even the Galaxy & LAFC). California was already the toughest state to build new stadiums in because taxpayers would rather direct the ancillary money into paying ALL costs of illegal immigrants, paper straws to save a few sea turtles, along with thousands of other taxpayer funded regulations focused on “social issues”, rather than infrastructure or aiding in the expansion of various fields of business… But MOST important, is statistics over all new stadiums built in the past 25 years have proven to be a huge loss to the city in which they’re built. Another study proved that the average new stadium loses 45-55% of its luster and revenue begins to drop after only five years. So commonly heard is, “The new stadium in _______ is going to stimulate the local economy greatly”, which the stats have proven just isn’t the case… The companies tasked with everything from initially grading the land, creating the design/architecture of building the stadium and then building the stadium MIGHT be local businesses, but more often that not, they all come in from different areas of the country, taking their money earned with them after 2-3 years when the project’s complete, rather than putting that money back into the local area. Even when there are restaurants, retail stores, etc. included in the construction of the new stadium, those restaurants/retail stores don’t do well at all, they simply want their brand name to be seen by the many passerby’s and will take the loss to benefit them elsewhere. Those who work inside the stadium; ticket takers, concessions, security, apparel shops, etc. are the only ones putting their earned money back into the area around the new stadium. And the BIGGEST earners in the new stadium — the athletes — 85-90% of the time live elsewhere during the off-season, taking ALL of that money with them, out of the community that paid to build the stadium they play in. Meanwhile, the team owners, who had their new cash cow stadiums partially, sometimes entirely, subsidized by the taxpayer are ALSO netting hundreds of millions annually via ticket sales, merchandise, TV deals and never giving that revenue back, or anything, to the taxpayer, other than saying, “Come watch my team play. And pay me a bundle while doing so”.
So sadly enough, Steve Balmer has been pushed to his near apparent purchase of The Forum. The Clippers, ATTEMPTING to get out from under the giant Lakers shadow, only to make their new home in a building the Lakers won so many championships and housed one of the greatest teams in NBA history during “The Showtime” years, would be pretty comical.
Will Steve Balmer PROVE he’s being honest about his willingness to do anything to produce a winner by ponying up his own money to build a new stadium? The answer is NO — he is a business man before he’s an NBA owner — and an investment that big is no where near smart business… What do I think Balmer will do? Prostitute the Clippers to cities like Seattle, Las Vegas, Nashville, etc. trying to get those local governments to help build a new stadium with the allure of having a Pro Sports Franchise very enticing to the other cities. At that point, he can go back to Los Angeles to try and create a bidding war for the franchise… And as I wrote before, this is the LA Clippers; possibly 5th or 6th in the city’s Sports Hierarchy. Losing them wouldn’t be much of a loss whatsoever.
I’ll be extremely surprised, and really question how, if the Clippers get a brand new, state of the art stadium built in Los Angeles.
VERY good game for both teams. It was nice getting the win though. Our team versitility is something most teams don’t have that seems to help us. GO LAKERS. Keep it up!!!!