Reply to thread

Message: [QUOTE="Phenomenon, post: 1835323, member: 3610"] Random stats: When Kyrie went down for almost 3 weeks in March, 2014, Dion averaged 22 points, 5.1 assists, 3.1 rebounds. The team went 4-4 over that stretch (Cavs were 33-49 for the year). [INDENT][B]This was the point where people on this forum said that the Cavs played better with Dion than Kyrie. People weren't saying Dion was better than Kyrie.[/B][/INDENT] When Kyrie returned and reduced his shot output by 22%, Dion maintained his production, averaging 20.3 points, 3.1 assists, 2.0 rebounds, while shooting 48% from the field and 47% from three for the rest of the season. What did we learn? Dion plays well in a starting role without ball dominant players alongside him. Overall for the year, as a starter he averaged 18.3 points, 3.5 assists, and 2.8 rebounds while shooting 44% from the field and 37% from three. Not terrible. Not worse than Shumpert, Johnson, and Harkless. The next year, he teamed up with ball-dominant LeBron and Irving returned to his ball-dominant ways. Plus he returned to the bench. Dion's production predictably plummeted. With OKC, he was teamed with the ball dominant duo of Durant and Westbrook. Again on the bench. Didn't exactly work out well either. Both OKC and LeBron-Cavs asked Dion to dance around the 3 point line and hit shots. It wasn't his forté. His specialty in the NBA is being an undaunted volume scorer, largely by getting to the basket, and he has done this much better than his 50 million dollar peers. [IMG]http://i.imgur.com/cZDluu3.png[/IMG] No one is saying that Dion is a plug and play player. He does have a useful and above-average skillset (Perimeter defender, slasher, volume scorer). His shortcoming is his shooting and playing with ball-dominant players. There's not many players that are a threat to get you 20, 25, or 30 points while coming off the bench. He's one of them. And in the league, there is only one that will get you that for 3 million or less. The fact that with a chance to go to the NBA Finals, Dion was in the crunch time group ([I]watching Durant and Westbrook launch up shots, of course[/I]) has to say something. [/QUOTE]

Verification: What is a Syracuse fan's favorite color?