Looks like Playoff Waiters is dead again.

[OrangeDW]

He needs to continue to trim down and get some explosion back as well, IMO. I read some article the other day where he reported to the Heat at 234 (!) and is now down to 225. He is 6'3 at best.

I read where, despite him not showing up in great shape, Spoelstra was raving about how good of shape Dion had gotten himself into.

 

[OrangeDW]

Also, this guy makes low light videos for EVERYONE. Even Lebron.

Then this guy is probably a complete dweeb.

 

[SoBeCuse]

I read where, despite him not showing up in great shape, Spoelstra was raving about how good of shape Dion had gotten himself into.

Right. Read that as well. Still could probably lose more. He clearly doesn't have the same quickness and explosion as once before.

 

[HOFCeluck]

Also "Hey look how well Dion played last night" has been a recurring theme since 2012. We should know by now how that movie plays itself out.

 

[OrangeDW]

Also "Hey look how well Dion played last night" has been a recurring theme since 2012. We should know by now how that movie plays itself out.

Still, the guy is a starting shooting guard in the NBA. He's doing more than ok for himself.

 

[kirbivore]

I'm really becoming cynical that he's ever going to get out of his own way.

God forbid he opts out and overplays his hand like he did this past off season. Not taking the QO looks so bad right now, at least Donovan was willing to work with him. Spoelstra isn't that kind of coach, and expects his players to do that work on their own.

Fireball Phil watching this

Good Good

 

[Czar]

Then this guy is probably a complete dweeb.

I mean, not really? Lowlight videos are funny. NBA fan culture is way less self serious and angry than CBB fan culture.


Please note the description.

DISCLAIMER: THE POINT OF THIS VIDEO IS TO BE FUNNY/INTERESTING(MAYBE). THE ONLY TAKEAWAY FROM THIS VIDEO SHOULD BE STEPHEN CURRY(and Klay Thompson) DID NOT SHOOT AS WELL AS THEY NORMALLY DO DURING THIS GAME.
Stephen Curry 6-20 from the field, 1-10 from three, 4 turnovers in 34 minutes lowlights!

 

[HOFCeluck]

Steph Curry with the shot

 

[OrangeDW]

I mean, not really? Lowlight videos are funny. NBA fan culture is way less self serious and angry than CBB fan culture.


Please note the description.

They generally do little for me. "Making fun" of Lebron or Curry by showing their missed shots...it just doesn't really register with me as funny or worthwhile. Seems pretty dweeby. I mean, showing routine missed pull-up jumpers, or missed shots off drives and turnovers...so what? There's like 75 of them every game.

I will say that Joakim Noah's airball on a wide open jumper that the defender let him have last night was hilarious. That thing was like 3 feet short!

 

[NYCorange]

No one hates Dion. He's just not a very good NBA player.

No offense, but this is just plain wrong. Dion is starting and getting 33 minutes a game on a Heat team that will likely make the playoffs, for a coach that holds his players accountable, and is playing over Tyler Johnson who got a 50 million dollar contract this past off-season. Admittedly Dion came into the league immature, but he's grown up a lot in the past few years, and has the legit tools to be the sort of all around player that is especially valuable in the playoffs. Specifically, he's a well above-average wing defender, he very athletic, is a pretty good playmaker, and shoots just well enough to keep defenses honest. To top it off, he's only 24! To put that in perspective, he's less than 7 months older than Michael Gbinije! It drives me nuts to hear people rag on Dion. Sure, he hasn't lived up to the #4 draft pick, but he's turned out just fine, and is probably our second best NBA player currently. We should give him props for fighting hard to mature and improve his game when plenty of other top picks fade out of the league quickly.

 

[SoBeCuse]

No offense, but this is just plain wrong. Dion is starting and getting 33 minutes a game on a Heat team that will likely make the playoffs, for a coach that holds his players accountable, and is playing over Tyler Johnson who got a 50 million dollar contract this past off-season. Admittedly Dion came into the league immature, but he's grown up a lot in the past few years, and has the legit tools to be the sort of all around player that is especially valuable in the playoffs. Specifically, he's a well above-average wing defender, he very athletic, is a pretty good playmaker, and shoots just well enough to keep defenses honest. To top it off, he's only 24! To put that in perspective, he's less than 7 months older than Michael Gbinije! It drives me nuts to hear people rag on Dion. Sure, he hasn't lived up to the #4 draft pick, but he's turned out just fine, and is probably our second best NBA player currently. We should give him props for fighting hard to mature and improve his game when plenty of other top picks fade out of the league quickly.

No offense but some of this is inaccurate. It doesn't seem he matured much at all, frankly. His court demeanor is still pretty lousy. He pouts to the refs on no-calls and doesn't get back on D because of that. He has one of the worst career PER ratings for any player or certainly 2Gs who log those kinds of minutes. "Well-above average wing defender" is certainly a stretch. Clearly he has improved his D but it was about as bad as it gets when he entered the league. This isn't ragging. Just facts. I truly hope in MIA he can turn things around. His 3Pt shooting has improved it seems but granted it's a very small sample size in Miami now. He's always been a talented playmaker with underrated passing ability. He struggles mightily finishing at the rim these days and I think that is a direct result of decreasing athleticism and weight gain.

 

[HOFCeluck]

No offense, but this is just plain wrong. Dion is starting and getting 33 minutes a game on a Heat team that will likely make the playoffs, for a coach that holds his players accountable, and is playing over Tyler Johnson who got a 50 million dollar contract this past off-season. Admittedly Dion came into the league immature, but he's grown up a lot in the past few years, and has the legit tools to be the sort of all around player that is especially valuable in the playoffs. Specifically, he's a well above-average wing defender, he very athletic, is a pretty good playmaker, and shoots just well enough to keep defenses honest. To top it off, he's only 24! To put that in perspective, he's less than 7 months older than Michael Gbinije! It drives me nuts to hear people rag on Dion. Sure, he hasn't lived up to the #4 draft pick, but he's turned out just fine, and is probably our second best NBA player currently. We should give him props for fighting hard to mature and improve his game when plenty of other top picks fade out of the league quickly.

It's been said before. But it's the entire NBA community vs a Syracuse message board.

 

[OrangeDW]

It's been said before. But it's the entire NBA community vs a Syracuse message board.

All these professional basketball GM's and Coaches must be so stupid to keep starting him and playing him a lot.

The snarky dweebs who make lowlight YouTube video clips and the know it all fans that think they're onto something that nobody else is by citing "advanced metrics". that they don't really understand as if they are absolute law and tell all(while actually watching like 4 basketball games a year) must know more than they do.

 

[NYCorange]

It's been said before. But it's the entire NBA community except Billy Donovan, Eric Spoelstra and Pat Riley, vs a Syracuse message board.

I trust Pat Riley and Eric Spoelstra's judgement quite a bit when it comes to talent and winning games. You're right that his reputation isn't great. Let's hope it changes to reflect his current ability.

 

[two3zone]

All these professional basketball GM's and Coaches must be so stupid to keep starting him and playing him a lot.

The professional GMs offered him an insult of a contract compared to the $$$$$ that was being thrown around this off season, and he took it. What does that tell you? He wasn't paid because he's proved nothing and has almost regressed since he left college.

He is young, very young, he has a lot of time to turn it around, question is, will he?

 

[OrangeDW]

The professional GMs offered him an insult of a contract compared to the $$$$$ that was being thrown around this off season, and he took it. What does that tell you? He wasn't paid because he's proved nothing and has almost regressed since he left college.

He is young, very young, he has a lot of time to turn it around, question is, will he?

He's still starting though. And he played heavy minutes on the 3rd best team in the league last year.

I think he was expecting to go back to OKC and Durant leaving threw a wrench in that, and the market had dried up a bit by that point.

 

[NYCorange]

The professional GMs offered him an insult of a contract compared to the $$$$$ that was being thrown around this off season, and he took it. What does that tell you? He wasn't paid because he's proved nothing and has almost regressed since he left college.

He is young, very young, he has a lot of time to turn it around, question is, will he?

That has as much to do with his perceived maturity as it does with his ability. He'll get a whole lot more if he performs this year.

 

[Czar]

All these professional basketball GM's and Coaches must be so stupid to keep starting him and playing him a lot.

The snarky dweebs who make lowlight YouTube video clips and the know it all fans that think they're onto something that nobody else is by citing "advanced metrics". that they don't really understand as if they are absolute law and tell all(while actually watching like 4 basketball games a year) must know more than they do.

Dion was so highly valuable he only got 2.9 million. In this new cap environment. The Heat got him as cover. No one touched him for over a month in Free Agency. His minutes are gonna get cut when Richardson comes back from injury. And he starts because Johnson is more efficient and prefers coming off the bench, as well as being the backup PG.

 

[OrangeDW]

Dion was so highly valuable he only got 2.9 million. In this new cap environment. The Heat got him as cover. No one touched him for over a month in Free Agency. His minutes are gonna get cut when Richardson comes back from injury. And he starts because Johnson is more efficient and prefers coming off the bench, as well as being the backup PG.

He's either started or played heavy minutes on every team he's been on in the NBA.

 

[NYCSUGrad]

I don't think there's really a lot of Dion hate, it's just that, well, the general perception of Dion around the NBA is VASTLY different than the average perception of him on this board.

I root for SU guys to do well in the NBA because even if there aren't huge benefits to it, it can't hurt. But that doesn't mean I'll think a guy is playing well when he's not because of where he went to school.

Wasn't that true of Melo in his first few seasons too? I recall at least one if not a couple of brawls and suspensions, and it took years for him to overcome the stigma. That is, if he EVER did, cause there are still knuckleheads who blame him for the Knicks not winning a championship.

I had to remind one who is a fellow comic that Melo was born about 15 years AFTER the Knicks' last championship in 1973, and didn't join the team till 2011, so W T F?

But I'm pretty sure he is a Celtics fan!

 

[Newhouser]

I don't understand how a guy (SU or not) gets a slap in the face in terms of his value across the league, comes into the season, after that slap, out of shape.

 

[Oráiste]

His defense improved last year but is still not great; I would classify Dion is an average NBA 2G, below average starter. At $2.9M he's a terrific bargain for the Heat - I believe the average salary for a starting SG last year was round $10M, the average overall was $4.8M. On talent, I think he could play several more seasons at or a bit above the league average for 2s, but apparently there is a personality issue. I can't say that for sure - it's all 2nd, 3rd, 4th hand stuff. But there is a reason why he's playing for his 3rd team on a below market deal, and I don't think it is mostly explained by timing.

 

[SWC75]

It's a reverse highlight film. Instead of all the shots going in and all the best plays it's none of the shots go in and all the bad plays. And means as much. Waiters may or may not be a good player but you could do that to LeBron or Steph and make them look like idiots.

 

[NKR1978]

Dion was so highly valuable he only got 2.9 million. In this new cap environment. The Heat got him as cover. No one touched him for over a month in Free Agency. His minutes are gonna get cut when Richardson comes back from injury. And he starts because Johnson is more efficient and prefers coming off the bench, as well as being the backup PG.

Did Dion run over your cat?

 

[OrangeDW]

This thread. Wow.

* I didn't search for it to bump it, just got an alert that someone liked one of my posts in it and couldn't resist reading through it again.

Hopefully Dion gets healthy again for the playoffs and they make it in. He's had a very nice season, and only a couple sprained ankles have really been able to slow him.