Dion Waiters wins Eastern Conference Rookie of the Month for February

With the month of February coming to a close, the NBA announced its monthly awards this week. And it shouldn't come as much of a surprised that the Cleveland Cavaliers' Dion Waiters was given the incredible prestigious title of Eastern Conference Rookie of the Month for February.

After a rough start (particularly in the month of December), Waiters has made huge strides towards being a very good NBA player. In February, Waiters averaged 15.8 points per game on 51.4% shooting in 28.2 minutes per game. I plan on writing a lot more about Waiters later this week, but it's certainly nice to see him get some recognition for the improvement that he has made.

Dion Waiters, Cleveland Cavaliers

Feb. 2 vs. Oklahoma City: Posted 12 points, a career-high six rebounds, six assists and two steals in a 115-110 win over the Thunder.

Feb. 13 vs. San Antonio: Recorded 20 points, four assists and tied a career-high with six rebounds in a 96-95 loss to the Spurs.

Feb. 24 @ Miami: Tallied 26 points, three assists and two rebounds in a 109-105 loss to the Heat.

While the monthly award is nice, it should do nothing but motivate Waiters to continue improving. He has shown that his talents and abilities allow him to produce at a high level and it will be exciting to see if that's something he can maintain for a larger sample size. It's definitely too late for Waiters to catch Damian Lillard in the overall Rookie of the Year race (not to mention Bradley Beal and Anthony Davis as well), but if he can prove to be a relatively consistent and electric playmaker next to Kyrie Irving, I'm sure the Cavs will settle for that.