Dion Waiters (All-Rookie First Team)

[randymoss1881]

He shot over 50%! I didn't get to watch the game besides the end of the blowout, but that's nice to see. Can anyone comment on how he looked?

He was atacking alot in pick and roll but there were 3 times where he settled for a stupid 3. He also had about 3 nice passes that didnt turn to a assist cause his teammates wouldnt finish. Another thing was his defense on hamilton was great he played him well in the post.

[Rich]

Seriously. We got people hoping to trade him for basically nothing already? Ridiculous. I will do the same thing I did with the TT thread, stay away until he picks up his game then come giggle at all the haters.

It's Cleveland. It's what we do. We give no one any chance to develop or learn at all anymore.

EDIT: Oh, and the grass is always greener. Look, we have a guy here saying we should trade Waiters and Varejao for two rookies who have shown NOTHING so far. Basically, just trading based solely on potential, while simultaneously making a decision that Waiter's potential is capped out, even though he's shown more than those two guys (Jones and Lamb) combined. Fucking insanity taking hold, over what? A loss to a team that has beaten us 100 straight times? Good lord.

[wuck]

I deleted some "Waiters trade scenario" posts.

Imagining trades involving Waiters can go in another thread (in a different forum). It's why the other forums exist.

[Henry Tuttle]

He was atacking alot in pick and roll but there were 3 times where he settled for a stupid 3. He also had about 3 nice passes that didnt turn to a assist cause his teammates wouldnt finish. Another thing was his defense on hamilton was great he played him well in the post.

Dion definitely settled (albeit less) a couple times tonight, but he was actually credited for only one 3pt attempt. Not that 21 footers are much better, but I guess it's babysteps.

[ArchieBunker7]

FWIW, I'm not putting too much misery on Dion. He's not exactly in the best situation. I just wish this offense wasn't so damn miserable and Dion could take his lumps whilst learning how to play off the ball. I like that BS has put the ball in his hands a bit more as of late, but that should mixed in with him learning how to play off Kyrie better. Dion's got a ton of potential. I would just love to see some of his game come out of an actual offense instead of just iso bs and what not.

[NarlCavs]

Tonight was a perfect example of a boxscore saying one thing and seeing the game saying something else. I thought Waiters was terrible tonight. Too often he ignored teammates and held the ball dribbling down the shot clock before forcing a shot. Did it repeatedly in the 3rd quarter.
It's great if players have confidence in their abilities but they also need to watch and not be overconfident or delusional about their actual ability.
I'm not at all writing him off or saying he won't develop. He does have a ways to go though and needs to get a few things out of his game to be as good as he could be.

[ArchieBunker7]

Tonight was a perfect example of a boxscore saying one thing and seeing the game saying something else. I thought Waiters was terrible tonight. Too often he ignored teammates and held the ball dribbling down the shot clock before forcing a shot. Did it repeatedly in the 3rd quarter.
It's great if players have confidence in their abilities but they also need to watch and not be overconfident or delusional about their actual ability.
I'm not at all writing him off or saying he won't develop. He does have a ways to go though and needs to get a few things out of his game to be as good as he could be.

And this is such a large part of the coaching, or lack thereof, this team is getting. Byron has continually just let these guys go all street ball. I can't for the life of me understand it. For all the speak of Byron talking about guys needing to know the plays...well, BS, where the hell are the plays??? I can't fault Dion for going all iso all the time when the HC just watches him do it game after game after game.

[shoes22]

And this is such a large part of the coaching, or lack thereof, this team is getting. Byron has continually just let these guys go all street ball. I can't for the life of me understand it. For all the speak of Byron talking about guys needing to know the plays...well, BS, where the hell are the plays??? I can't fault Dion for going all iso all the time when the HC just watches him do it game after game after game.

I do agree, it has been frustrating watching the games and seeing the opposing coach be active and yell at his players telling them where they need to be on the court, and then see Byron Scott stoically and silently standing with his arms crossed doing nothing 90% of the time.

[Pioneer10]

Man posters are really being way too hard about Waiters tonight IMO.

-he carried the offense in the 3rd as no one else was scoring and the game wasn't out of hand till the end of the 3rd.
-he took a few of bad jumpers but overall he attacked the basket and got people open looks when he didn't score or got fouled. Not sure at least in the 3rd where he over-dribbled ala Kyrie at times. If he plays like he did in 3rd more consistently, this board will be more then happy with the pick. Problem with him is he hasn't been able to get those quarters to a full game in awhile

Reasons the Bulls played away (and I would say this is despite Waiters putting a good shift)
1) We only have one competent big in Thompson right now and the Bulls have several and they crushed us downlow
2) Weird defense where the Bulls by running one screen would end up with Deng against Waiters or Irving and then Gee on Hamilton. Not sure why we didn't change the defense: zone or something to stop from doing this

The combination of 1 and 2 allowed the Bulls to run roughshod over our defense in the 3rd and put the game away

[theSTEREO.]

Dion was a garbage time All-Star tonight. I'm hardly a Dion critic, but I'm not getting too excited since I'm not sure he scored from the field in the first 2.5 quarters.

Context.

There is no such thing as Garbage Time against the Chicago Bulls. Thibs plays his guys to the last possible second. Deng played 38 min, Noah played 32, Boozer played 30 and was in there right up until the end. The only "garbage" Bull that logged more than 2 minutes was Nazr Mohammed, and that was despite it being a blowout at the start of the fourth.

Also, I disagree that Dion didn't play well until the game was decided. He had a slow first half, but his play picked up a lot after halftime, before it really felt like anyone had stomped on our throats. He played more efficiently than Kyrie tonight.

[gourimoko]

They're tired of losing.. this has to be our last tank year.

[KB]

They're tired of losing.. this has to be our last tank year.

Best laid plans....

[pr26]

They're tired of losing.. this has to be our last tank year.

I actually agree. Despite the top of the 2014 class, I think the Cavs will want to start positioning themselves to win next year in order to build some confidence in this roster. I think it's inevitable someone like Gay gets added to this roster within the next year....Hell, maybe by the deadline.

[Lottery God]

I actually agree. Despite the top of the 2014 class, I think the Cavs will want to start positioning themselves to win next year in order to build some confidence in this roster. I think it's inevitable someone like Gay gets added to this roster within the next year....Hell, maybe by the deadline.

Regardless of whether or not they're tired of losing, the natural positive progression in the overall talent level of our players in addition to our team chemistry will dictate whether or not we make the playoffs. Our hand is likely to be forced next season because we'll be too good to not make the playoffs. Not only that, but we would likely have to pass up on too many opportunities in trades and free agency. There's a diminishing return with each season on tanking, and I think that next season is the season that we cross the line to it not really being worth it to tank. I really like the 2014 top of the class, but I don't think we'll be in position to draft any of the supreme guys from that class.

[yalbert]

I agree we'll have to go for it next year. I think Dan Gilbert thinks so as well ....enough is enough. Our 4 young players will have 1 or 2 years under their belts ....they're ready to contribute.
....If we continue this way, we'll have a top 5 pick next year, which will give us a top 5 player in the draft or a very good player in trade

.....our cap spcae could net us another fine player

....and if the Lakers squeeeeeeze into the playoffs, their pick could land us another rotation player (draft or player)

....the draft doesn't look very strong in elite SF's, but then we only need one

yea, next year we need to make a move