Dion Waiters grew up in Philadelphia, and has lived through tragedy. Unfortunately, some think that is enough for the Philadelphia 76ers to pass on him.
Leading up to the NBA free agency period, lots of reports and rumors about free agents and teams looking into free agents started to come out. With the Philadelphia 76ers having an absurd amount of money to spend this offseason, it was no surprise to see them mentioned as potential suitors for several mid-level free agents.
Dion Waiters, to no surprise, was drawing interest from the Sixers. According to Keith Pompey, he is also interested in playing for Philly. Waiters, who went to school in Syracuse, started his career in Cleveland, and most recently played in Oklahoma City, grew up in Philly.
And just like any Philadelphian, he has a special place in his heart for the city. Whether that makes it a good place for him to play or not is a question that some are starting to ask, including the Sixers.
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According to Pompey’s report, the Sixers have concerns about Waiters being distracted by past relationships he has in the city. There’s decent reason for that, as his brother was recently killed in Philly limits by a person who reportedly was a bad friendship from back when Waiters’ brother was younger.
"The Sixers, though, are concerned that he will be in a negative environment in which trouble will follow him, the source said. There’s also concern that the sometimes-blunt Waiters wouldn’t mesh well with the Sixers’ young and impressionable locker room."
When Waiters was growing up, he lived through losing a friend and three cousins to murder, also in the city, and all within a year of each other. It’s no secret that Philly is a city with issues of crime, but that’s really no different from most cities.
To say the crimes and the murders haven’t affected Waiters would be foolish, as Waiters has said that he was deeply hurt by what has happened to people close to him in the past.
"“I lost three cousins and a best friend, and they all came at the wrong time. Everyone told me to be strong and that they were in a better place. But I didn’t want to hear that. They were gone and I will never see them again”"
As we look into potential fit between Waiters and Sixers, some are making a lot out of Waiters’ past in the city.
What many of these people are forgetting is that Waiters’ past in the city is actually filled with a lot of triumph.
Going into high school in South Philadelphia, Waiters attended Bartram High School, and transferred partway through the year to South Philadelphia High School. Waiters, possibly due to complications from his transfer partway through the season, did not play basketball in his freshman season.
Despite that, Waiters improved his game on the streets. Where others in South Philly were going to be spending the rest of their lives getting into the many possible bad life paths — drug dealing, gang violence, etc. — Waiters used basketball as his way out of the streets.
By the end of Waiters’ freshman year (remember, he hasn’t played a minute of high-school basketball at this point) he had committed to Syracuse University, according to an ESPN report on Waiters during high school. Waiters finished his freshman year of high school in 2006, 10 years ago.
Today, a decade later, imagine Waiters coming back. It’s tough to ignore that the murder of his brother just occurred, and that poor relationships between Waiters established during his childhood and teenage years may exist. At the same time, consider that we’re talking about the young player who had a commitment to a Division 1 institute before setting foot on a high school basketball court.
That’s dedication. There has to be mindset behind that.
We can look at this two different ways.
The first is to be pessimistic about Waiters, to look at Waiters and see what has happened to his family and be worried about the possibilities. To realize that this is a city full of distractions, seeing evidence of that in off-court issues from Jahlil Okafor and Nerlens Noel already. That distraction factor could be maximized, potentially, by someone already familiar with the city.
The second, and the correct way, I feel, to think about Waiters in Philly, is the optimistic sense. Waiters knew from a young age what people in his situation had dealt to them. They were put into neighborhoods worse off than many others, into situations where they might not establish the best of relationships. Waiters was dealt the same hand as everyone else around him, but he triumphed much more than other people.
With Waiters coming back to Philly, he’s coming back in victory. Although I’m sure he’ll never forget where he came from in South Philly, he can stand tall metaphorically over his past. Waiters has victory over the life he was supposed to live. Statistics had Waiters facing overwhelming odds of living the life led by so many in his neighborhood. But he changed his course by taking action.
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With Waiters coming to Philly, the murder of his brother is fresh in his mind. It’s motivation, and triumph over what should have been Waiters’ path as well. It is not indication that Waiters will be distracted. He will flourish in Philadelphia.