From the maker of the Dwight Howard lowlight reel, it's the Dion Waiters lowlight reel | Syracusefan.com

From the maker of the Dwight Howard lowlight reel, it's the Dion Waiters lowlight reel

Czar

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Really, really wish Dion would turn it around and carve out a play style that will keep him as a bench option going forward, but if he keeps playing like this he's gonna have trouble finding a new team when his contract ends.
 
His situation is incredible. No competition right now due to injuries, getting 30+ minutes a night with two perennial all stars... And he just can't make a shot.

Literally. Tough stuff for him lately.
 
His situation is incredible. No competition right now due to injuries, getting 30+ minutes a night with two perennial all stars... And he just can't make a shot.

Literally. Tough stuff for him lately.

I feel like it has to be all mental, right? I mean, it looks like the athleticism is still there.

Maybe he can follow his spiritual predecessor's path, go to China for a couple years and then come back and be a great sixth option.
 
He was horrendous in the first H yesterday. There was one sequence where he was chasing around JR Smith. He should've known that a certain screen was coming. He played it poorly, Smith got separation, and buried a 3. Then Dion throws up his hands in disgust like a little punk as if it wasn't on him. It wasn't the same play as in the highlight reel above, either.
 
That wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be haha. About half the jumpers were bricks and the other half just didn't go down. Got fouled on some of those drives without a call.

You have to have control of the ball to travel, too, which he did not.
 
That wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be haha. About half the jumpers were bricks and the other half just didn't go down. Got fouled on some of those drives without a call.

You have to have control of the ball to travel, too, which he did not.
No you don't. You can't juggle the ball from coast to coast.
 
He will get one more shot on one more team, that will determine if he plays another 5-6 years or another 1 or 2
 
Lebatard stat of the day yesterday - Dion has more missed layups this year than made layups. I think the number was 14-13
 

Really, really wish Dion would turn it around and carve out a play style that will keep him as a bench option going forward, but if he keeps playing like this he's gonna have trouble finding a new team when his contract ends.

They should have included 1 of his patented missed wide open fast break layups just for the hell of it.
 
His situation is incredible. No competition right now due to injuries, getting 30+ minutes a night with two perennial all stars... And he just can't make a shot.

Literally. Tough stuff for him lately.
It's really not ideal for him at all.

Yea, he gets playing time but unless you're Enes Kanter or Stephen Adams getting putbacks and dumpdowns off pick n rolls, you're never getting an in rhythm, warmed up shot.

KD and Westbrook control the ball more than any two stars I've ever seen. Every shot someone else takes just seems out of rhythm because nobody else can get a rhythm. Combine that with the fact that Dion needs to be a slasher and is forced into a spot up shooter (which is his weaknes) makes this situation way less than incredible.

Unfortunately for Dion, unless you're a star, you better be a 3 and D guy.
 
It's really not ideal for him at all.

Yea, he gets playing time but unless you're Enes Kanter or Stephen Adams getting putbacks and dumpdowns off pick n rolls, you're never getting an in rhythm, warmed up shot.

KD and Westbrook control the ball more than any two stars I've ever seen. Every shot someone else takes just seems out of rhythm because nobody else can get a rhythm. Combine that with the fact that Dion needs to be a slasher and is forced into a spot up shooter (which is his weaknes) makes this situation way less than incredible.

Unfortunately for Dion, unless you're a star, you better be a 3 and D guy.

Yeah. Funny thing is, it's not like they've found any 2G that work. And the reason, as you mention, is how ball dominant KD and Russ are.

They've earned that right and even with the incremental change in offense they have this season, it's still hero ball for the most part.

If Dion was handling the rock on a second unit with shooters, he would fare much better, imo. He needs to break guys down off the dribble.

He cannot shoot. His shot is broken and he's not putting in the looks he's getting.
 
It's really not ideal for him at all.

Yea, he gets playing time but unless you're Enes Kanter or Stephen Adams getting putbacks and dumpdowns off pick n rolls, you're never getting an in rhythm, warmed up shot.

KD and Westbrook control the ball more than any two stars I've ever seen. Every shot someone else takes just seems out of rhythm because nobody else can get a rhythm. Combine that with the fact that Dion needs to be a slasher and is forced into a spot up shooter (which is his weaknes) makes this situation way less than incredible.

Unfortunately for Dion, unless you're a star, you better be a 3 and D guy.

He is not a good slasher at the NBA level. He plays many minutes with 1 of them off the floor and he can't get it going.

This reminds me of the Andrea Bargnani situation in Toronto (I am a longtime Raptors fan) where his fanboys blamed his lack of success on everything but him. What did he do with the Knicks and Nets?

It doesn't mean that Dion is a bad guy. But he can't be one of the top volume shooters on a good team.
 
Yeah. Funny thing is, it's not like they've found any 2G that work. And the reason, as you mention, is how ball dominant KD and Russ are.

They've earned that right and even with the incremental change in offense they have this season, it's still hero ball for the most part.

If Dion was handling the rock on a second unit with shooters, he would fare much better, imo. He needs to break guys down off the dribble.

He cannot shoot. His shot is broken and he's not putting in the looks he's getting.
Exactly. They have Roberson, Waiters, Morrow etc.. and none of them seem to be able to mesh with Westbrook and KD. They are all super erratic with zero consistency which, again, happens when you play defense and then go run to stand in the corner. They just traded for another guard in Foye.

I like both Westbrook and KD but they're not winning anything together. Why any 2g would ever want to go to that team is beyond me.

That being said, Dion is never going to be a ball dominant star so he better fix his shot and quick.
 

Really, really wish Dion would turn it around and carve out a play style that will keep him as a bench option going forward, but if he keeps playing like this he's gonna have trouble finding a new team when his contract ends.

The body language of Westbrook says it all. He sees Dion running the wing and wide open at the arc, but realizes it's him and reluctantly passes him the ball. Dion has some work to do to regain the confidence of his teammates.
 
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i don't want to judge a guy too much on social media but im wondering if hes putting the work in necessary...
 
That wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be haha. About half the jumpers were bricks and the other half just didn't go down. Got fouled on some of those drives without a call.

You have to have control of the ball to travel, too, which he did not.

To me it looked like he caught it, walked, then lost it.
 
Of the 8 men in the OKC rotation, Dion Waiters is 7th on the team in shooting from 0-3 feet (51%) and worst on the team from 3-10 feet. (32%)

His career shooting percentage from 3-10 feet is a beyond abysmal 29.8%, and a low . And yet you think he should go to a team that would allow him to slash more?

He is not a finisher or any good in the mid range game that is closer to the basket. The issue is not that he is unable to exploit this area of his game. The issue is he not good at it.

He is just not that effective an offensive player and OKC has done the right thing getting his shots down from 15.4 to 11.6 per 36. I get it -- we want our Syracuse players to succeed. But he has done nothing to show that "role" is the issue.
 
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Where are the highlights from Dion's game last night?? Had a decent game - 14 pts, 5 for 8 from field, 4 of 6 from 3 pt range and 3 assists but let's only show highlights when he has a bad game.

Unfortunately for him, it takes more than one game to make up for the number of turds he's laid. Maybe if he strings a few games together, people will take notice.
 
That wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be haha. About half the jumpers were bricks and the other half just didn't go down. Got fouled on some of those drives without a call.

You have to have control of the ball to travel, too, which he did not.


You realize those lowlights were all from the same game, right?
 
You realize those lowlights were all from the same game, right?

It happens. Melo went like 4 for 30 last night with 3 airballs. Granted, Melo's earned more leeway than Waiters, but you could find a lot of games of good players looking absolutely atrocious.
 
Waiters will likely never live up to his potential and certainly not to his draft position. That said, he's going to have a long career assuming he continues to compete on D and doesn't suffer a major injury. Waiters actually has played his butt off this season defending good wing scorers--he's not an elite defender, but he does enough. He doesn't chuck up 20 foot 2s nearly as much and he's actually shooting about 36% from 3 this year, and was higher before this recent mini-slump. He's also a pretty good passer when he wants to be, and he's wanted to this season. Guys who defend, can handle a bit and hit enough 3s to keep defenses honest stick around in the league and even play significant minutes on a contender. Waiters isn't currently as bad as his reputation.
 

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