Dion's first test?

[OrangeDW]

I thought this comment was fitting-his best clutch game came in a loss. Look he's got a great opportunity to change the narrative and I hope he does, but people say these things about him for a reason. Let's hope he is ready to take advantage of the situation he's been given.

I remember Dion making some big plays down the stretch of the Wisconsin NCAA tournament win.

 

[Fireball Jr.]

Dion only made 4 of 11 last night against the Bulls, but he hustled, passed well, played decent d even though he got schooled on a dunk by Rose (who toyed with Kyrie, too), Blatt gave Dion a nice run -- 32 minutes -- with the A team, looks like he'll fit in just fine. Check out No. 13 on this list: http://www.foxsports.com/ohio/story...kyrie-irving-derrick-rose-lebron-james-102014

 

[Francis03]

I remember Dion making some big plays down the stretch of the Wisconsin NCAA tournament win.

We don't win that game if Dion doesn't go bonkers in the last 10 minutes after it seemed like Wisky was gaining the momentum after knocking down 100 straight 3's it seemed like for one stretch in the 2nd half. I remember Dion putting on one of his lovely spin moves in transition on one of the Wisky players.

 

[OrangeDW]

We don't win that game if Dion doesn't go bonkers in the last 10 minutes after it seemed like Wisky was gaining the momentum after knocking down 100 straight 3's it seemed like for one stretch in the 2nd half. I remember Dion putting on one of his lovely spin moves in transition on one of the Wisky players.

Yeah. He had that step back, high arching, mid range shot with a few minutes left too.

 

[OttoMets]

I think many fans fail to realize how good Scoop really was. It would be good for them to look at career numbers of many of our PG's over the years and compare them to Scoops. fg%, 3pt%, assist to turnover, wins and losses, etcetera. They would find he rates considerably better than guys like Hart and Red.

You are correct, sir.

Historically he was an excellent Syracuse point guard - a very good distributor and shooter and a great scorer. He could also throw a lob pass into the post, which apparently is against the rules these days.

 

[OttoMets]

He was a good player but his mistakes came at the worst times during games.

Nah, that's a meme that's gained traction but doesn't really hold water.

If you look at games that Syracuse lost during the three years when he was a key player, there aren't too many instances in which that appears to be true. He had a stellar record as point guard and there weren't any losses in which he was the goat due to a late-game choke (people crushed him after the Marquette over-and-back; I dunno, that was a case in which the refs, players, and coaches all seemed unaware of the rule and a bad call was made).

 

[SoBeCuse]

Nah, that's a meme that's gained traction but doesn't really hold water.

If you look at games that Syracuse lost during the three years when he was a key player, there aren't too many instances in which that appears to be true. He had a stellar record as point guard and there weren't any losses in which he was the goat due to a late-game choke (people crushed him after the Marquette over-and-back; I dunno, that was a case in which the refs, players, and coaches all seemed unaware of the rule and a bad call was made).

I agree. I would actually label this more with Kris Joseph. Not that he single-handedly lost games but too many times he was dribbling off his foot (OSU game), lollygagging around, and playing no defense.

 

[RF2044]

Dion only made 4 of 11 last night against the Bulls, but he hustled, passed well, played decent d even though he got schooled on a dunk by Rose (who toyed with Kyrie, too), Blatt gave Dion a nice run -- 32 minutes -- with the A team, looks like he'll fit in just fine. Check out No. 13 on this list: http://www.foxsports.com/ohio/story...kyrie-irving-derrick-rose-lebron-james-102014

I watched that game with my wife. The 4-11 can be attributed to settling for too many perimeter jumpers. And that isn't a criticism of just Dion--the whole Cavs team from what I saw, including Kevin Love, seems to love taking contested jumpers.

Dion missed quite a few shots, but shot a great percentage from three. I think some of these things will continue to get ironed out as they gain familiarity playing with one another, and settle more into defined roles [lots of new faces right now].

 

[OttoMets]

I agree. I would actually label this more with Kris Joseph. Not that he single-handedly lost games but too many times he was dribbling off his foot (OSU game), lollygagging around, and playing no defense.

Yeah, it's funny how different players are perceived.

In some cases, playing in the NBA seems to validate a player who under other circumstances would probably be crushed for the same thing; Carter-Williams made more wild passes as a sophomore than Scoop made in three years.

In others, I really don't know. Scoop shot 42% from the field as a junior, taking the most shots (not ideal, in my humble estimation) on a limited team. So he's a chucker and has bad shot selection. McNamara and Donte did the same in, respectively, '06 and '08 (with similar or worse shooting percentages) and they're defended for simply doing their best on teams without other offensive options.

It's weird. People have their biases, I guess.

 

[OrangeDW]

Yeah, it's funny how different players are perceived.

In some cases, playing in the NBA seems to validate a player who under other circumstances would probably be crushed for the same thing; Carter-Williams made more wild passes as a sophomore than Scoop made in three years.

In others, I really don't know. Scoop shot 42% from the field as a junior, taking the most shots (not ideal, in my humble estimation) on a limited team. So he's a chucker and has bad shot selection. McNamara and Donte did the same in, respectively, '06 and '08 (with similar or worse shooting percentages) and they're defended for simply doing their best on teams without other offensive options.

It's weird. People have their biases, I guess.

Personally, Scoop drove me nuts his Junior year. I loved him his soph. and senior years though. Donte drove me nuts in his year here, even moreso for his lack of defense than shot selection.

And I wanted more Devendorf shots and fewer GMac shots in 2006.

 

[RF2044]

Personally, Scoop drove me nuts his Junior year. I loved him his soph. and senior years though. Donte drove me nuts in his year here, even moreso for his lack of defense than shot selection.

And I wanted more Devendorf shots and fewer GMac shots in 2006.

Was it Scoop, or a largely ineffectual offense where he was forced to do a little too much at the end of shot clocks, etc.? That's what it seemed like to me, watching that 2011 team.

 

[OttoMets]

Personally, Scoop drove me nuts his Junior year. I loved him his soph. and senior years though. Donte drove me nuts in his year here, even moreso for his lack of defense than shot selection.

And I wanted more Devendorf shots and fewer GMac shots in 2006.

Yeah, I think you and I might have gotten into it over Scoop in 2011. He took too many shots and the team was worse for it. (I'm pretty much always of the mind that point guards should not be the first scoring option. That's doubly true when they can't surpass 42%.)

I think the rest of his game was solid, though; he was more fit and probably better defensively than he was as a senior and he distributed and protected the ball quite well. We really needed a shooting guard to help him out; between Triche also shooting 42% and Dion showing up fat and surly, we were handicapped.

I agree completely on Donte and McNamara and don't really understand opposing viewpoints. The 2008 team was limited but at least well-rounded; if anyone's taking 571 shots on that team, it should be Onuaku. Or Harris. Or Flynn. But the guy with the single worst percentage and the frame to play inside shouldn't lead the team in (mostly perimeter) shots. And failure to play defense or adhere to directions from the coaching staff isn't something I can overlook.

In 2006, it should have been clear which guard shot more efficiently (again, especially since the kid with the much worse percentage was pretty much a full-time point guard battling injuries).

 

[jordoo]

Yeah, I think you and I might have gotten into it over Scoop in 2011. He took too many shots and the team was worse for it. (I'm pretty much always of the mind that point guards should not be the first scoring option. That's doubly true when they can't surpass 42%.)

I think the rest of his game was solid, though; he was more fit and probably better defensively than he was as a senior and he distributed and protected the ball quite well. We really needed a shooting guard to help him out; between Triche also shooting 42% and Dion showing up fat and surly, we were handicapped.

I agree completely on Donte and McNamara and don't really understand opposing viewpoints. The 2008 team was limited but at least well-rounded; if anyone's taking 571 shots on that team, it should be Onuaku. Or Harris. Or Flynn. But the guy with the single worst percentage and the frame to play inside shouldn't lead the team in (mostly perimeter) shots. And failure to play defense or adhere to directions from the coaching staff isn't something I can overlook.

In 2006, it should have been clear which guard shot more efficiently (again, especially since the kid with the much worse percentage was pretty much a full-time point guard battling injuries).

I agree on Scoop in 11, perhaps he took to many shots but that team was limited offensively.

As far as Donte you have to remember the staff lost Rautins over the summer and Devendorf near the end of the OOC schedule. Who else was going to shoot 3's? Paul, Scoop and Jonny where not ready to shoulder the load from outside and worse than that the defenses preferred to let them shoot 3's where Donte at least pulled the defense to him.

That team was this:
Jonny, Scoop, Paul, Donte, Rick, Kong and Arinze once Devo went down. That's it! Paul had the most experience as far as minutes played. Least experienced squad I can remember.

 

[OttoMets]

I agree on Scoop in 11, perhaps he took to many shots but that team was limited offensively.

As far as Donte you have to remember the staff lost Rautins over the summer and Devendorf near the end of the OOC schedule. Who else was going to shoot 3's? Paul, Scoop and Jonny where not ready to shoulder the load from outside and worse than that the defenses preferred to let them shoot 3's where Donte at least pulled the defense to him.

That team was this:
Jonny, Scoop, Paul, Donte, Rick, Kong and Arinze once Devo went down. That's it! Paul had the most experience as far as minutes played. Least experienced squad I can remember.

Definitely the least experienced group (in terms of real college experience, at least).

While depth was a serious problem, Donte could have been an absolute terror, posting guys up, drawing doubles and kicking the ball out or dumping it to the post, occasionally stepping out to spread the floor, hitting mid-range shots when free (actually, kind of like he did on Senior Day against Marquette). Instead he was content to float through games.

No doubt spacing would have been a problem at times, though I think that Harris could have become a respectable perimeter threat with more dependable teammates. And Onuaku should have scored 18 a game; if they were really that limited, why not keep feeding him until the opponent shuts him down?

Instead we saw chaos, before and after the Devendorf injury. And no defense. Half that group totally tuned out Boeheim pretty early on, which made winning impossible.

 

[SoBeCuse]

Definitely the least experienced group (in terms of real college experience, at least).

While depth was a serious problem, Donte could have been an absolute terror, posting guys up, drawing doubles and kicking the ball out or dumping it to the post, occasionally stepping out to spread the floor, hitting mid-range shots when free (actually, kind of like he did on Senior Day against Marquette). Instead he was content to float through games.

No doubt spacing would have been a problem at times, though I think that Harris could have become a respectable perimeter threat with more dependable teammates. And Onuaku should have scored 18 a game; if they were really that limited, why not keep feeding him until the opponent shuts him down?

Instead we saw chaos, before and after the Devendorf injury. And no defense. Half that group totally tuned out Boeheim pretty early on, which made winning impossible.

I hear ya but Donte made some strides and was really tough to stop second half of the season. He also was an underrated rebounder. 18/8 as a frosh or whatever it was. Pretty darn good. IMO, Joseph was more of coaster and floater even as a senior. I went to the game @Cincy. Donte was scoring from all over the court including post-ups. He was pretty much unstoppable in the L.

 

[OttoMets]

I hear ya but Donte made some strides and was really tough to stop second half of the season. He also was an underrated rebounder. 18/8 as a frosh or whatever it was. Pretty darn good. IMO, Joseph was more of coaster and floater even as a senior. I went to the game @Cincy. Donte was scoring from all over the court including post-ups. He was pretty much unstoppable in the L.

Yeah, perhaps I'm not giving him enough credit; I enjoyed that season so little and haven't seen any of those games more than once. The Marquette game sticks in my head, but there were likely others in which he showed improvement. My memory is probably also colored by the second UMass loss.

 

[SoBeCuse]

Yeah, perhaps I'm not giving him enough credit; I enjoyed that season so little and haven't seen any of those games more than once. The Marquette game sticks in my head, but there were likely others in which he showed improvement. My memory is probably also colored by the second UMass loss.

Disappointing season for sure. Not much worth remembering, lol.

 

[Fireball Jr.]

Cavs pick up Dion's option for next season ('15-'16), doesn't mean they couldn't trade him if they're not thrilled with how he fits in with LeBron, et al., but indicates Cavs like what they see and what they're foreseeing. http://www.cleveland.com/cavs/index.ssf/2014/10/cleveland_cavaliers_pick_up_th_1.html