OT: the Cavs are better w Dion at point instead of Irving

[OrangeFoo]

I'm not saying Dion is better than Irving but for what the Cavs need he is a better fit. He at least pretends to share the ball and play D. The Cavs had him on Rose for much of the third quarter tonight and he did ok.

Irving is a a bit of a disaster... Can't play 2nd fiddle to Lebron and doesn't play a lick of D. His +/- today has got to be terrible.

 

[Orangezoo]

That and the dellavadova kid is a gamer. Kyrie i think gets moved.

 

[OrangeDW]

Dellavadova played 30 minutes and scored 0 points, and got lit up by Heinrich down the stretch. Ridiculous that Dion sat the last few minutes of the game and all of OT for that scrub.

 

[Fireball Jr.]

Second game, second time Dion sits at crunch time and the Cavs go with Dellavedova. I'm guessing Blatt and his assistants see something -- defense? -- that we don't see. Love Dion, would love to see him seize this opportunity and flourish, hope I'm wrong, but I wouldn't be surprised to see Dion going to Denver for Mozgov. That is, if LeBron signs off on it. He's been in Dion's corner longtime, let's see if that continues.

 

[Melancer46]

Second game, second time Dion sits at crunch time and the Cavs go with Dellavedova. I'm guessing Blatt and his assistants see something -- defense? -- that we don't see. Love Dion, would love to see him seize this opportunity and flourish, hope I'm wrong, but I wouldn't be surprised to see Dion going to Denver for Mozgov. That is, if LeBron signs off on it. He's been in Dion's corner longtime, let's see if that continues.

He missed a layup and was busy mouthing off to the ref while Chicago was trying to score at the other end. If I remember right, Dion got benched shortly thereafter.

 

[SoBeCuse]

LOL at the OP. Irving made some big plays tonight though. He is bad on D yes. Dion too. My guess is Blatt is seeing something in practices with Dion's defense. I think he roams around too much and loses track of his guy often. Blatt seems to be an effort guy so the Dellavadova kid plays hard even though he got burned a few times. The decision to play him more over Dion tonight worked.

 

[SoBeCuse]

He missed a layup and was busy mouthing off to the ref while Chicago was trying to score at the other end. If I remember right, Dion got benched shortly thereafter.

Yup. Saw that too.

 

[longislandcuse]

Cavs fans are going to get sick of Blatt's Delladova obsession reallll quick. The announcers were lighting him up for play him over Dion, then Delladova let Hinrich score 3 straight buckets while providing nothing on offense. If I was Dion, I'd he pissed.

 

[longislandcuse]

LOL at the OP. Irving made some big plays tonight though. He is bad on D yes. Dion too. My guess is Blatt is seeing something in practices with Dion's defense. I think he roams around too much and loses track of his guy often. Blatt seems to be an effort guy so the Dellavadova kid plays hard even though he got burned a few times. The decision to play him more over Dion tonight worked.

No it didn't. They almost lost because of that move. Lebron going beast mode in OT is what won the game not Delladovas zero points and constantly being owned by Hinrich.

 

[Melancer46]

Cavs fans are going to get sick of Blatt's Delladova obsession reallll quick. The announcers were lighting him up for play him over Dion, then Delladova let Hinrich score 3 straight buckets while providing nothing on offense. If I was Dion, I'd he pissed.

I don't know if it's the majority opinion, but all of the Cavs fans I know have a serious hard on for Delly.

 

[RF2044]

He missed a layup and was busy mouthing off to the ref while Chicago was trying to score at the other end. If I remember right, Dion got benched shortly thereafter.

Watched the game [I have family in town who are from Cleveland, so unfortunately I've gotten stuck watching cavs games the last two nights]. This was 100% the reason that Dion got benched. I wouldn't read too much into it--coach was sending him a message / teaching him a lesson. No more, no less.

 

[OrangeFoo]

I posted before Dion got benched... Irving also whines to the refs after every play he thinks he got fouled also. Both guys whine too much.

I watched the 2nd half... All I know is the Cavs were doing great with Dion out there in the 3rd and they looked terrible with Irving out there in the 4th. The Cavs only one because Irving got the most ridiculous continuation calls I have ever seen. I will concede that Dion would never get that call because he doesn't get super star calls like Irving does.

 

[OrangeDW]

No it didn't. They almost lost because of that move. Lebron going beast mode in OT is what won the game not Delladovas zero points and constantly being owned by Hinrich.

Right. It wouldn't have gotten to OT if Heinrich didn't go crazy down the stretch with Delladova guarding him. He had zero positive impact in Cleveland winning.

 

[longislandcuse]

I posted before Dion got benched... Irving also whines to the refs after every play he thinks he got fouled also. Both guys whine too much.

I watched the 2nd half... All I know is the Cavs were doing great with Dion out there in the 3rd and they looked terrible with Irving out there in the 4th. The Cavs only one because Irving got the most ridiculous continuation calls I have ever seen. I will concede that Dion would never get that call because he doesn't get super star calls like Irving does.

Announcer actually mentioned that Dion did the same thing earlier and didn't get the continuation call.

 

[doc05]

Not happening.

 

[Knicks411]

Dellavadova seemed to be doing pretty well defensively for a while, then Hinrich hit some jumpers over him at the end. I don't think you're going to see him closing out a lot of games for the Cavs. Plus/minus wise, the Dion/Kyrie were basically even, Dion was 0, and Irving was -2. (Both better than Lebron, who was a -3. Second straight night the Cavs were outscored when Lebron played). As for the sharing the ball thing, Kyrie the last two years has had much better assist rates than Dion (right around 30% compared to 18%).

If the Cavs end up signing Ray Allen he might close games for then, otherwise it's going to be Dion much more often than not.

 

[SoBeCuse]

No it didn't. They almost lost because of that move. Lebron going beast mode in OT is what won the game not Delladovas zero points and constantly being owned by Hinrich.

Yes it did...in terms of avoiding any questions or issues with the Dion benching if the Cavs had lost. It's a non-factor really since they won. Dellavadova lost Hinrich once but the other plays were just TOUGH shots Hinrich made with a hand in his face. No question Dellavadova played harder on D than Dion LAST night.

 

[longislandcuse]

Yes it did...in terms of avoiding any questions or issues with the Dion benching if the Cavs had lost. It's a non-factor really since they won. Dellavadova lost Hinrich once but the other plays were just TOUGH shots Hinrich made with a hand in his face. No question Dellavadova played harder on D than Dion LAST night.

He lost him twice. Announcers called him out both times. Then Hinrich made one tough jump shot in his face.

 

[Fireball Jr.]

Looks like Dion's defense, or lack of, has earned him a spot on the bench at crunch time the first two games. Hope he rights his ship, and fast. Would be a shame to see him blow this great opportunity. http://bleacherreport.com/articles/...-have-much-time-to-completely-change-his-game

 

[OrangeFoo]

Looks like Dion's defense, or lack of, has earned him a spot on the bench at crunch time the first two games. Hope he rights his ship, and fast. Would be a shame to see him blow this great opportunity. http://bleacherreport.com/articles/...-have-much-time-to-completely-change-his-game

I think it's in his best interest to move to the bench. He doesn't care enough about D to play the 3 and D role. It's sad because he is so talented that if he just focused on nothing but D'ing up and running the offense he would make himself a ton of money in his next contract. Everyone knows he can score, they want him to prove he can do more than that. I think we are looking at Ben Gordon the second here... but I'm not sure Dion is as good.

I think the Cavs are making a big mistake with Irving. I don't think he can play with Lebron.

 

[Macky44]

Dion is a better player than Irving. Irving doesn't know how to play the game without the ball in his hands.

 

[NineOneSeven]

I've officially seen it all.

 

[OrangeDW]

Dion is a better player than Irving. Irving doesn't know how to play the game without the ball in his hands.

This exact criticism applies to Dion. He stands around with his hands up in the air when he doesn't have the ball. Given that Dion is a SG and has the ball in his hands less often, it's a bigger problem for him than it is for Irving.

 

[Francis03]

Looks like Dion's defense, or lack of, has earned him a spot on the bench at crunch time the first two games. Hope he rights his ship, and fast. Would be a shame to see him blow this great opportunity. http://bleacherreport.com/articles/...-have-much-time-to-completely-change-his-game

Dion was in during crunch time against the Knicks. He was guarding JR Smith mostly down the stretch. Had a few good stops on him but Smith nailed a couple of tough shots on him as well. Life RF said, the benching in the Bulls game was nothing more than a teaching point for Dion. He has to learn that he's not going to get the same calls as Bron and Kyrie. So he needs to stay alert and hustle his ass on both ends. He's a competitive kid and I have no doubt he'll bounce back and settle into things.

 

[SoBeCuse]

Dion is a better player than Irving. Irving doesn't know how to play the game without the ball in his hands.

LOL. Not one NBA GM, coach, player, or scout I am certain would agree with you. Irving IS a PG. The ball needs to be in his hands. On this level Dion should be a PG, imo.