Waiters defends late-game shot selection: 'I work on them shots'

Confidence has never been Dion Waiters' issue.

If anything, the development of the former No. 4 overall pick has been hamstrung at various points by an overabundance of it. He's been guilty of overdribbling, hijacking possessions, launching inefficient jump shots, and carping when he doesn't get the ball.

But the past couple months have gone a ways toward justifying Waiters' bravado. In his past 25 games, he's averaged 19 points and five assists, and shot 45 percent from 3-point range. On Wednesday night, he hit a wild, off-balance 3-pointer at the end of the shot clock to ice the Miami Heat's 20th victory in their past 24 games. It was the third game-clinching jumper he's hit in the past six weeks.

All of those shots were arguably ill-advised. None could reasonably be classified as a "good" shot. But Waiters, confident as ever, isn't much interested in how his shot selection is categorized.

"I'm not going to sit here and say it was a bad shot because I work on them shots," he told reporters after Miami's win Wednesday, according to Manny Navarro of the Miami Herald. "I'm not ever going to say that - even if it was."

Perhaps that's been the secret to Waiters' success this season: being unwaveringly confident, even in the face of evidence that suggests you shouldn't be.

"If you don't have no confidence," he said, "I don't think you should be in this league."