Wade Watch: Mario Chalmers: Haters Ain't Nothing But Fuel, Doubters Ain't Nothing But Fools

Mario Chalmers has been using haters as fuel to prove doubters wrong his entire career.

Miami Herald beat reporter Joseph Goodman published an interesting article on Chalmers: Miami Heat’s Mario Chalmers inspired by doubts, challenges.

The article provides insight into Chalmers' "adversative psyche" and how it could help him in the Three-Point Contest during All-Star Weekend the same way it's helped him in his NBA career. Some examples from the article of haters and doubters from the NBA that have driven Chalmers in his career are listed below.

Overlooked in the Draft
“Coming into the NBA, I felt like I slipped in the draft and a lot of people overlooked me.”

Chalmers definitely proved people wrong. In 2009, he led all rookie PGs in Wins Produced. He was more productive than 2009 Rookie of the Year and 2011 MVP Derrick Rose, 2011 All-Star Russell Westbrook, and lottery picks D.J. Augustin (#9) and Jerryd Bayless (#11). NOTE: Average player produces 0.100 WP48.

NAME	TEAM	GP	MIN	WP48	Wins
Chalmers, Mario	MIA	82	2626	.119	6.5
Rose, Derrick	CHI	81	3000	.087	5.4
Augustin, D.J.	CHA	72	1908	.090	3.6
Westbrook, Russell	OKC	82	2668	.044	2.5
Hill, George	IND	77	1270	.044	1.2
Nelson, DeMarcus	GSW	13	171	-.113	-.4
Taylor, Mike	LAC	51	771	-.056	-.9
Ukic, Roko	MIL	72	890	-.059	-1.1
Bayless, Jerryd	TOR	53	655	-.092	-1.2
Brown, Bobby	LAC	68	931	-.108	-2.1

Not Good Enough to be HEAT's Point Guard

"I just want to go out there and prove people wrong."

You know, like those people who said before the season that the Heat still needed a solid point guard to complete its roster.

Pushed by rookie Norris Cole... You want more motivation? Remember last season, when the Heat cut Carlos Arroyo to sign Mike Bibby? It was the managerial equivalent of Pat Riley walking up to Chalmers and slapping him in the mouth.

Doubters be damned, Chalmers proved he's the Ghost of HEAT PG Past, Present and Future. No matter who the HEAT have brought in or will bring in, Competition is None. This season is no different.

Before the All-Star break, Chalmers produced an estimated 3.6 wins and 0.182 est. wins per 48 minutes (average players produce 0.100) while Norris Cole only produced an estimated -0.5 wins and -0.024 est. WP48. See the HEAT Produced Page for more stats. It looks like the hype from Cole's scrimmage was just more motivation for Chalmers to put together a great season.

Putting Alaska on the Map

To this day, he still points out that he’s the third player to make it out of Alaska and to the NBA.

“A lot of people don’t think anything about Alaska,” Chalmers said. “A lot of people say there’s nothing in Alaska but snow and ice. So, being from Alaska, being that guy … I just want to prove it.”

Chalmers may be the third player to make it in the NBA out of Alaska but according to basketball-reference.com he's the only player in the NBA that was born there. That was enough to land him in ESPN the Magazine's infographic of the top NBA scorers from each state in America.

The Best Stories Come From College
As impressive as Chalmers' stories about proving the haters wrong in the NBA may be, the most entertaining story comes from his days at University of Kansas. The latest HEATcast: All-Star Break Analysis, discussed how Chalmers' performance against Lin shouldn't have been a surprise based on what he did in big games as a Jayhawk.

Below is an excerpt from the book Beyond the Phog where Chalmers explains how he used hateration from Villanova coach Jay Wright to destroy the Wildcats in the NCAA tournament.

In Mario Chalmers' words...
A LITTLE PAYBACK

People like to talk about the North Carolina and Memphis games, but one of the biggest wins for us during the NCAA Tournament was against Villanova.

That game was personal, because Jay Wright – the Villanova coach – had also been the head coach of the USA Basketball team that represented the country in the Pan Am games the previous summer. Jay Wright cut both Sherron and me from that team and kept his own player from Villanova, Scottie Reynolds, who had clearly been the worst player at the entire camp. He led the whole camp in turnovers. Sherron didn’t play all that well, either, because his knee hadn’t recovered from the previous season. But for me, I felt like I did everything right. I led them in steals, I had a lot of assists and I barely had any turnovers. But I wasn’t shooting the ball very much. They used one of those international balls, so they were different. I didn’t like the ball. I shot maybe six times.

When they cut me, they told me it was because I didn’t score and that they wanted a scoring point guard. I was like, “Why do y’all need all these scorers? What do you need a scoring point guard for when you’ve got all these other scorers?” They had Alonzo Gee from Alabama and guys that could already score. I was just trying to get other players involved. When they cut me, I was hurt. I was like, “Oh, you wanted me to score and you didn’t tell me that?” They had told Coach Self they just wanted a guy to distribute the ball, but Jay Wright cut me and kept his own player.

So when it came to the Villanova game, Coach Self called Sherron and me into his office and said, “How do you feel about this Villanova game?” I said, “Coach, this is personal to me. I don’t like Jay Wright.” He was like, “I understand that, but keep it out of the media.” So when the media asked if it was a personal game, we’d say, “No, it’s not personal. It’s just another game.” But during the game we were talking all kinds of s--t to Jay Wright. We’d run by him and tell him, “Sit your ass down! We got this!” Another time we said to him, “This is what you get for cutting us. We’re about to dog you!” Anytime we were throwing the ball in from the sideline, when he was standing up trying to call a play, we’d tell him to shut his mouth and sit down. There was one play where I threw a lob to Shady on an inbounds pass and he dunked over Scottie Reynolds. Right before I threw it I looked at Jay Wright and said, “Watch this!” That game was definitely personal for Sherron and me.

Scottie Reynolds hasn't played one game in the NBA while Mario's gone on to become one of the 10 most productive point guards in the NBA this season.

NAME	TEAM	POS	GP	MIN	PTS	REB	AST	WP48	Wins
Paul, Chris	LAC	PG	26	942	25.4	4.8	11.4	.294	5.8
Nash, Steve	PHO	PG	31	995	20.8	4.2	16.4	.277	5.7
Lowry, Kyle	HOU	PG	32	1135	21.1	7.2	10.3	.234	5.5
Calderon, Jose	TOR	PG	33	1124	15.5	4.9	12.6	.232	5.4
Rubio, Ricky	MIN	PG	34	1186	15.6	5.9	11.5	.174	4.3
Conley, Mike	MEM	PG	32	1142	17.7	3.6	9.0	.167	4.0
Collison, Darren	IND	PG	33	1100	16.5	5.1	7.5	.160	3.7
Chalmers, Mario	MIA	PG	32	897	19.2	4.4	6.2	.188	3.5
Rose, Derrick	CHI	PG	25	882	29.7	4.7	10.4	.185	3.4
Rondo, Rajon	BOS	PG	22	813	19.2	6.3	12.4	.190	3.2