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Dion Waiters on recent struggles: “It ain’t about me right now”

Dion Waiters was expected to be a major contributor for the Cavs this season, a complimentary scorer filling in the gaps alongside LeBron James, Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love. But so far, he has struggled to find a consistent role on his retooled team. He’s shooting under 40 percent from the field and under 30 percent from three-point range on the season and right now, he’s just trying to look at the big picture and get past his individual struggles.

From ESPN.com’s Dave McMenamin:

“It’s all right. We’re winning,” Waiters told ESPN.com following Cavs shootaround Thursday. “It ain’t about me right now. It’s not about me. As long as we’re winning (I’m fine).”

Waiters and his coach, David Blatt, have apparently had private discussions and have a plan set out to get Waiters to be more productive.

“Any other place, it’d be probably different, but here I got to take that role of coming off the bench,” Waiters said. “I’m very confident in myself. You know what I can do, I mean, as far as the skill set. It’s just about how you involve me.”

He and Blatt have worked on a plan to bust the slump. Now it’s time to set it in motion.

“We talked. We talked,” Waiters said. “And he said he’ll try to run more plays for me. We got to wait. We talked about it. It’s just about when it’s going to happen.”

Waiters was always going to have to accept a diminished role after the arrival of the best player in the world in James and another superstar in Love. If he wants to stay a productive member of a championship team, he’s going to have to embrace that role. Otherwise, the Cavaliers may be forced to look for a trade partner.