"Saint Weirdo" -Dion Waiters

[triplethrea]

There are a lot more than 20 guys in the NBA who are capable of being a 20 ppg scorer with a high usage % like he had when Kyrie was out and Cleveland was playing out the string.

As Bees said, at some point Dion needs to stop blaming others. This isn't like HS where when he didn't like things, he just went to another school. He is being given his 2nd opportunity with a winning team, which a lot of NBA guys would love to have and it's on him to adjust his game to those around him.

How many are 2nd year guys?

 

[Fireball Jr.]

Waiters looks, based on last night, like he's going to get a decent amount of minutes in OKC. All they have is Westbrook/KD, Reggie Jackson and some 3 point shooters. Their bigs are horrendous on the offensive end and the starting 2g Roberson has no business playing. If you can contain Westbrook or KD, or one of them has an off night, they are seriously challenged. Waiters and Jackson are the only 2 other guys on that roster who can be considered "playmakers".

Like everything about Dion but his head, bummed he couldn't "get it" in Cleveland, but he was getting a decent amount of minutes with the Cavs -- 23:49. He played 22:19 last night for OKC, missed 8 of 9 shots (or made 1 of 9). Wish him well, he's got great game, just not sure about the head.

 

[longislandcuse]

Waiters with a nice game last night. Was in the finishing 5 and hit the game sealing shot in a 1 point game.

 

[Trueblue25]

Waiters with a nice game last night. Was in the finishing 5 and hit the game sealing shot in a 1 point game.

Brings a smile to my face seeing Dion own a moment like that. OKC may just be the place for him.

 

[Gotothehole]

Waiters does it to himself.

Bees you never liked Dion begin with.. Let it go, he balled last night

 

[HOFCeluck]

Bees you never liked Dion begin with.. Let it go, he balled last night

There are legit things not to like about Waiters game. But he had agreat game last night.

 

[reedny]

Here's monthly stats:

G GS MP FG FGA 3P 3PA FT FTA ORB TRB AST STL BLK TOV PF PTS FG% 3P% FT% True Shooting Percentage
October 1 1 29 5 12 1 3 0 0 1 1 2 3 0 2 2 11 .417 .333 .458 20.8 92 99 -2.1 29.4 11.0 1.0 2.0
November 14 8 397 75 179 20 48 40 59 5 47 34 17 5 38 33 210 .419 .417 .678 .512 27.5 93 109 -6.6 28.4 15.0 3.4 2.4
December 11 0 348 65 150 8 25 25 36 8 39 29 4 1 28 19 163 .433 .320 .694 .491 24.9 93 112 +0.3 31.6 14.8 3.5 2.6
January 15 0 410 78 196 20 53 32 46 7 31 42 13 3 26 37 208 .398 .377 .696 .481 26.6 98 111 -2.5 27.3 13.9 2.1 2.8
February 8 0 195 45 100 8 28 11 19 3 24 24 4 0 16 14 109 .450 .286 .579 .503 28.2 98 110 +6.7 24.3 13.6 3.0 3.0
March 14 8 473 109 246 21 63 31 44 5 39 56 14 4 32 32 270 .443 .333 .705 .509 29.1 100 112 -5.8 33.8 19.3 2.8 4.0
April 7 7 220 53 110 14 30 22 31 3 14 22 8 4 12 16 142 .482 .467 .710 .574 27.4 112 110 +4.8 31.5 20.3 2.0 3.1

The last two months he jumped from 13-14 PPG to 19-20 PPG. TS% went from 50.9% to 57.4%, FG% from 44% to 48%. The point is most things improved to fairly impressive levels, especially for a 2nd year player. Is he super-efficient? No way. Can he be? Why not?

People seem to be projecting his future with the assumption that he will never grow and never become more efficient.

No to mention that he before the trade, he was adjusting to a new role, on a team loaded with 3 NBA superstars, two of whom are new to the franchise and all of whom have to fit their games and attitudes into the Cav's offense. Hard to comprehend the negativity on a Syracuse Board over Dion (I remember DC being even more petulant early in his career). Dion's a very talented player who's finding his way in the league, not only among superstars but (other?) superegos. If being overconfident were illegal in the NBA there would only be 3 or 4 guys playing. Ppl should get off his balls.

 

[rrlbees]

Bees you never liked Dion begin with.. Let it go, he balled last night

Let what go? Strange response to a post from 3 days ago that was very simple and had nothing to do with last nights game. So what if he balled last night? Has nothing to do with my post.

 

[OrangeDW]

This is true. Dion wants to be a superstar more than he wants to be the 4th best guy on a championship team. I think Dion wants to win, just not as an anonymous guy on the "Lebron James, Kevin Love, Kyrie Irving" Cavs.

Dion has never gotten a fair shake for his talent level going back to Cuse. This guy deserves to start and be the main guy for at least 1 year and he is always told to shut up and "act your talent level". Meanwhile Kyrie Irving is better looking, more marketable, and has a sweet looking handle so he is treated like a prince while Dion is yelled out for not trying hard enough on defense.

I don't know if you believe in the law of attraction, but Dion seems to attract disrespect and adversity. Dion wants a chance to be great and all I saw is a bunch of smug internet people and journalists (who have minimal success in their own lives) telling him he is delusional. I truly hope he gets the last laugh.

.....Come on.

Dion is NOT as good as Kyrie. Except maybe at being a chucker. It's close. They are both chuckers. But Kyrie is a better shooter, better ball handler, better finisher, quicker, and while he shoots just as much he's at least better at chucking up good shots for himself. It's really not close, he's clearly better.

And I like Dion and fully believe he could be a very good player. But he's got a lot of improving to do, and Kyrie is much further along at this point.

If Dion can improve his catch and shoot 3 point shooting, he could make some big gains in OKC. Lots of open looks to be had, if he can knock them down.

 

[OrangeDW]

There are a lot more than 20 guys in the NBA who are capable of being a 20 ppg scorer with a high usage % like he had when Kyrie was out and Cleveland was playing out the string.

As Bees said, at some point Dion needs to stop blaming others. This isn't like HS where when he didn't like things, he just went to another school. He is being given his 2nd opportunity with a winning team, which a lot of NBA guys would love to have and it's on him to adjust his game to those around him.

Yup. He's played with Lebron, and now Durant, who will go down as the 2 best players in the 2010-2019 decade. He better make it work in OKC or he's going to seriously regret it someday. Being the man on a horrible team is not something to shoot for. Everybody remembers reserve guards who were extremely important players on championship teams like Michael Cooper, BJ Armstrong, Sam Cassell, Vinnie Johnson. Nobody remembers 20 ppg volume shooting scorers on horrible teams like Ricky Davis(except for missing on purpose at his own basket to try to get a rebound while shooting for a triple double) or Tony Campbell.

 

[OttoinGrotto]

I'm really curious to see what's going to happen in Cleveland now. Trading Dion away is going to make things ugly for Blatt, because he's the scapegoat now.

People are starting to observe that Lebron's not putting as much effort in on defense. Love's not really helping himself. I've mentioned many times on here that I think Love is way over rated, but it just amazes me how immune he seems to be from getting criticized.

 

[Gotothehole]

Let what go? Strange response to a post from 3 days ago that was very simple and had nothing to do with last nights game. So what if he balled last night? Has nothing to do with my post.[/

This had nothing to with your post.. and you know it.. You never liked DW

 

[Fireball Jr.]

I'm really curious to see what's going to happen in Cleveland now. Trading Dion away is going to make things ugly for Blatt, because he's the scapegoat now.

People are starting to observe that Lebron's not putting as much effort in on defense. Love's not really helping himself. I've mentioned many times on here that I think Love is way over rated, but it just amazes me how immune he seems to be from getting criticized.

Blatt's been the scapegoat since day one, he's the one talking the heat, and I read the Akron and Cleveland rags online and I see plenty of shots at Love from the peanut gallery.

Mozgov looked good in his first game with the Cavs last night, he'll be a huge factor in shoring up defense near the rim and help Love. Shumpert will be a big addition on defense, too, when he's ready in 2 weeks or so. Thompson's a beast and Marion is a strong defender, too.

And JR, who I was not wild about the Cavs picking up, had 27 last night, although his d's not his strongest suit.

This team has a lotta new parts, it takes awhile to find chemistry and proper rotations. The Cavs were a downright lousy team while LeBron was in Miami, and as much as they're sucking' right now sans LBJ (1-6), they're above .500 (barely) and may get it together in time to get a top 4 seed in the East. How they're playing in April is key. As Doug Collins said on the Cavs-Houston game the other night, the Cavs have a lotta wins ahead of them.

I sensed a better feel, a better sense of camaraderie, last night against Golden State. Wish Dion could've been part of this, but he apparently couldn't accept being No. 2 to Kyrie. He landed in a decent spot, on a team that's had success playing together for a while, but I see better days ahead for the Cavs, and soon.

 

[rrlbees]

Point? You brought up last nights game, not me.

 

[OrangeDW]

No to mention that he before the trade, he was adjusting to a new role, on a team loaded with 3 NBA superstars, two of whom are new to the franchise and all of whom have to fit their games and attitudes into the Cav's offense. Hard to comprehend the negativity on a Syracuse Board over Dion (I remember DC being even more petulant early in his career). Dion's a very talented player who's finding his way in the league, not only among superstars but (other?) superegos. If being overconfident were illegal in the NBA there would only be 3 or 4 guys playing. Ppl should get off his balls.

DC was a WAY better player at this point, regardless of who was supposedly more petualant and that's really what it's all about. DC was an all star caliber player and was 20 and 10 every night and leading otherwise horrible Nets teams to the playoffs. Dion got 15 ppg game on bad Cavs teams, and played poorly in Cleveland this year in what was a big opportunity. But to be fair, there was a lot of transition and even Lebron and Love weren't/aren't playing up to past standards yet. I hope Dion plays better in OKC. Game 2 was a good sign.

 

[reedny]

DC was a WAY better player at this point, regardless of who was supposedly more petualant and that's really what it's all about. DC was an all star caliber player and was 20 and 10 every night and leading otherwise horrible Nets teams to the playoffs. Dion got 15 ppg game on bad Cavs teams, and played poorly in Cleveland this year in what was a big opportunity. But to be fair, there was a lot of transition and even Lebron and Love weren't/aren't playing up to past standards yet. I hope Dion plays better in OKC. Game 2 was a good sign.

Yeah I think it's about his comfort level ... having the support of his teammates and the coaching staff so he can help the team. So far things look better at OKC ... I haven't heard any whining from Westbrook.