Dion Waiters

[shandeezy7]

Had himself a night. Second straight game matching his career high of 33 points, including hitting the game-winning 3 with .6 seconds left:

 

[stuckinbig11]

33 points in a win over the Warriors

 

[Trueblue25]

Neon

 

[Zepharus]

Feel good for the dude. If he can not be his own worst enemy, he can be aplayer in the league

 

[AZOrange]

Has he been hurt? Hes packed on the lbs...

 

[W'boro'Cuse315]

 

[SoBeCuse]

Great game! He missed maybe close to two weeks with something. Groin? He came back shortly after New Years I believe.

 

[W'boro'Cuse315]

Btw, slightly OT but a friend of mine sent me this link during a text convo abt the current SU season, the zone, recruiting, etc

Dion Waiters has hilarious quote about adjusting to NBA defense from college

 

[shandeezy7]

Great game! He missed maybe close to two weeks with something. Groin? He came back shortly after New Years I believe.

I want to say he has missed 20 games this year

 

[OrangeXtreme]

 

[20Plus]

Waiters sinks game-winner over Warriors - ESPN Video
Waiters sinks game-winner over Warriors - ESPN Video

 

[SoBeCuse]

That is an amazing stat and accomplishment considering Wade ruled Miami for years and LeBron was there too.

 

[ssbriefcase]

Btw, slightly OT but a friend of mine sent me this link during a text convo abt the current SU season, the zone, recruiting, etc

Dion Waiters has hilarious quote about adjusting to NBA defense from college

Well, that article was from last March, huh. No wonder we lost all our recruits! lol

 

[Briancuse]

Feel good for the dude. If he can not be his own worst enemy, he can be aplayer in the league

Its all between the ears, he has the talent to be a borderline star, hopefully he is maturing.

 

[NineOneSeven]

Great couple games. Overall shooting numbers are still pretty poor this season, hovering around 40%. We will see if this is the beginning of a turnaround. Obviously these numbers aren't sustainable, but he'll have a ton of playing time with some of the injuries that Miami has had this year. Can still be a decent role player, obviously mostly for the scoring, assuming he takes smart shots.

 

[NineOneSeven]

That is an amazing stat and accomplishment considering Wade ruled Miami for years and LeBron was there too.

true... although to be fair, neither of them I would consider a 3 point shooter, especially not Wade.

 

[longislandcuse]

Btw, slightly OT but a friend of mine sent me this link during a text convo abt the current SU season, the zone, recruiting, etc

Dion Waiters has hilarious quote about adjusting to NBA defense from college

Eh.. I'm as big a critic of the 24/7 zone as anyone here but we've put some good defenders into the league recently with Wes Johnson and MCW.

 

[TheGov3304]

Making me look brilliant for picking him up in Fantasy

 

[Brooky03]

Eh.. I'm as big a critic of the 24/7 zone as anyone here but we've put some good defenders into the league recently with Wes Johnson and MCW.

Yeah, oddly, the article pointed to MCW as having a reputation as a bad defender. Seemed like the author was reaching for Syracuse examples outside of Waiters and Melo.

Either way, I hate the generally lazy criticism of the zone in terms of NBA preparation. Man to man defense is not rocket science. There's some nuance to it, but it's not like playing matchup zone for a year or two makes you forget how to chase guys around screens or stop ballhandlers one on one. A player's on-ball defense is essentially no different in a matchup zone than it is m2m. Off-ball defense is different, but again, that's not something that's all that tough to pick up.

If Syracuse puts poor defenders in the League, it's not because the zone made them poor, it's because the player isn't a big fan of defense.

 

[two3zone]

 

[Cheriehoop]

Coach's tough love awakens Heat's Dion Waiters

 

[SoBeCuse]

Yeah, oddly, the article pointed to MCW as having a reputation as a bad defender. Seemed like the author was reaching for Syracuse examples outside of Waiters and Melo.

Either way, I hate the generally lazy criticism of the zone in terms of NBA preparation. Man to man defense is not rocket science. There's some nuance to it, but it's not like playing matchup zone for a year or two makes you forget how to chase guys around screens or stop ballhandlers one on one. A player's on-ball defense is essentially no different in a matchup zone than it is m2m. Off-ball defense is different, but again, that's not something that's all that tough to pick up.

If Syracuse puts poor defenders in the League, it's not because the zone made them poor, it's because the player isn't a big fan of defense.

I hear you but I do think it's fair for NBA coaches and GMs to question it, though. There just isn't enough of a sample size to make a fair evaluation, regardless. Just out of curiosity...what's your take with Boeheim consistently saying that the players are incapable of playing M2M?

 

[longislandcuse]

Coach's tough love awakens Heat's Dion Waiters

That guy giving the middle finger in the background though... lol

 

[Brooky03]

I hear you but I do think it's fair for NBA coaches and GMs to question it, though. There just isn't enough of a sample size to make a fair evaluation, regardless. Just out of curiosity...what's your take with Boeheim consistently saying that the players are incapable of playing M2M?

I'd say those statements are mostly self-serving. Nobody on the team this year, except maybe Coleman, is a poor enough athlete not to play at least passable m2m defense. But we don't practice it much, if at all, so of course they're not going to play it well if switches to it out of the blue. Give the players some practice reps to get into rhythm and they'd probably play m2m well enough. It couldn't be worse than the zone this season.

 

[SoBeCuse]

I'd say those statements are mostly self-serving. Nobody on the team this year, except maybe Coleman, is a poor enough athlete not to play at least passable m2m defense. But we don't practice it much, if at all, so of course they're not going to play it well if switches to it out of the blue. Give the players some practice reps to get into rhythm and they'd probably play m2m well enough. It couldn't be worse than the zone this season.

Yeah, one would think they could with the proper reps but I could see Howard struggling.