Dion Waiters (All-Rookie First Team)

[Tecumseh]

I'm not buying the "he has limited minutes because of the ankle injury" mindset. If it's still bothering him, then the proper course of action is to rest him entire games, not play 18 minutes a night.

I just don't think the Cavs brought Dion along very well from the start. He didn't do much to earn his starting spot given that CJ actually played pretty well in the preseason. The Cavs also gave him pretty free reign with regard to playing time and shot selection. They gave Dion the keys to the car without putting restrictions on the usage of the car.

It looks bad now that they are enforcing stricter treatment given that their original treatment was rather lax. Everyone seems to love Drummond here. Well Detroit has really forced Drummond to earn minutes this year. As a result he has developed very well. I think the Cavs realize that they might have made a mistake in their approach to Dion and are now trying to rectify their mistake before it is too late. Ideally, Dion is starting by years end.

[mhi]

Didn't figure he would be the one losing minutes to Livingston. But he did play a lot of backup PG.

[Pioneer10]

Not sure I buy the doghouse idea completely: he's actually played well the last two games since being moved to the bench. Could see Scott though trying in any single game sending a message about a poor defensive rotation/effort. He does tend to do that and I suspect Dion will get more minutes next game.

[KB]

This is the post from Max that I was pointing out

I think it's worth mentioning, because it seems to be getting ignored, but Dion's ankle injury was a big setback. These were the 6 games before the injury-

21pts/7rebs
16pts/3rebs/7asst
15ps/3asst/4steals
16pts/2 asst
25pts/5rebs/3asst
16pts/4rebs/6asst

Yeah, his shooting % was off, but he was really starting to produce and get more comfortable. The ankle injury was pretty bad and I think he came back too early. He tweaked it again in the Bos game, twice more in the Wash game and once again in the Atl game...he NEVER should have played in the Brooklyn game last Saturday. He really needed the 3 day break he just had...should have been 4 days rest in my opinion.

I'm not sold on him coming off the bench, I just think he needs to get 100% healthy again...he's close. He also has to take the 3's when open. He missed his first 14 after the ankle injury because he was shooting off 1-1/2 legs. I think the 3 will be a nice weapon for him and he has to take it. What he HAS to start doing is taking more mid-range shots. He hits them consistantly in practice, he has to work them into his game.

Not having Andy has really hurt our guards too.

[Henry Tuttle]

Not sure if it's a benchable offense, but I was taken aback by Dion not making any attempt to score at the end of the 3rd (at the buzzer after he, admittedly, made a great defensive stop in transition). He looked up at the clock with about 3 seconds left at 3/4 court with no one in front of him and pulled back. It seemed especially odd considering his disregard for shooting percentage thus far.

I may be going out on a limb, but I feel like if I noticed it then the team must've noticed as well - and it wasn't exactly the sort of thing that inspires confidence.

[oasis05]

Waiters is getting out played by cj miles. I hope it's the ankle, but right now he doesn't belong in the nba the way he's playing.

[KB]

Waiters is getting out played by cj miles. I hope it's the ankle, but right now he doesn't belong in the nba the way he's playing.

Statements like this are asinine for so many reasons

[Daniel89]

Waiters is getting out played by cj miles. I hope it's the ankle, but right now he doesn't belong in the nba the way he's playing.

Not sure if serious. He's a rookie and will improve. Same with TT, some people here nearly gave up on him last season. You can't expect Dion coming in and playing a flawless rookie season. Waiters has not even played a third of an Nba season, his shot selection will improve, at least I hope so.
As a comparison, James Harden also shot only 38% in his first 30 games in the Nba...

[Biw]

To all the people that think Waiters is a bust or couldn't be a starter on a contending team eventually, what do you think of Bradley Beal?

Just genuinely asking a question. Interested in the thought process of people.

[Jon]

To all the people that think Waiters is a bust or couldn't be a starter on a contending team eventually, what do you think of Bradley Beal?

Just genuinely asking a question. Interested in the thought process of people.

I think Beal (and MKG for that matter) are younger and have a year less NCAA experience - and that matters. I think Beal has played without a PG, and he's exactly the sort of player you bring in to play off a PG or playmaker. I also think I haven't watched him nearly as much as I've watched Dion, but he's certainly due more patience given his circumstances.

When it comes to scoring ability and efficiency there are still a lot of question marks from the draft class that haven't been answered. There is evidence that the "it" factor that everyone said MKG had, is actually there, and he does help win games inspite of a shaky jumper.

When we compare Dion's upside to Ben Gordon, that's generally taken as a condemnation of his game, but as we saw last night there are certainly instances where Gordon can put up a huge game and be all but unstoppable in the right circumstances. What Dion can do to surpass Gordon would be to learn to be a decent defender. It doesn't matter how much you score if you give it all right back to the other team.

[oasis05]

Beal also sucks. May be more than waiters thus far. That's still no excuse for waiters with as much of a usage percentage as he has he is the reason the cavs are as bad as they are. In a way I guess it's okay, the more bricks he puts up the higher our pick goes.

[oasis05]

I don't think Thompson was as bad his rookie season as waiters has been. Thompson showed he could rebound and defend. We knew he had offensive shortcomings. Waiters came in with a polished offensive game and has been overwhelmed.

[clebron]

@oasis05

You're insane if you think Thompson had a better rookie year to this point in the season, he was AWFUL for the first half...started coming on the second half

[Jack Brickman]

Waiters is getting out played by cj miles. I hope it's the ankle, but right now he doesn't belong in the nba the way he's playing.

Did you watch the game last night? I was at it. Kid looked great in the first half.

[pr26]

I really hope 18 minutes for Waiters isn't a trend. The point that were at as a team, we need to develop Waiters. Even if it's not pretty, we need to see what this kid has. We need to seem him take his lumps.

For the record, I don't think Waiters will continue getting so few minutes. Honestly, with the team playing the second game of a back to back and Waiters being used sparingly last night, I'd expect Waiters to get 28-30 minutes tonight.