Dion Waiters

[pr26]

Provide an example.

"This post reminds me of a crack baby: premature and not very well put together.....much like my poop. Brb gonna poop."

That would be about an 8/10.

 

[kovanovich]

Regardless of how old Lillard is, to this point in their respective three year careers Lillard has been a significantly better player on significantly better teams. Drummond might not even be the best player on a team that could miss the playoffs in the East. Lillard is arguably the best player on the third best team in the West.

Aside from that, guards typically have longer careers than bigs, so Lillard's age isn't a major factor.

It's not been Drummond's fault that he has been on bad teams, and the fact he may not be his team's best player is not really relevant. Lillard obviously gets some credit for his good teams in Portland, but he has obviously had much better teammates.

Drummond struggled early this year with the increased offensive responsibility, but part of that problem was apparently the horrible spacing, which SVG is now working to improve. Dwight Howard became a top 5 player in the league with only a rudimentary post game on those SVG-coached Orlando teams that had fairly mediocre talent but great spacing.

Is it true that guards have longer careers than bigs? I would have thought it was the opposite. A more relevant point is that it typically takes bigs longer to develop, and again Drummond is still only 21 years old and won't turn 22 till August.

So I will stick to my original claim that Drummond will end up being second best from the 2012 class, but more to the point he was the guy the Cavs should have selected. Many in RCF were upset the Cavs didn't. (I have to admit that didn't include me.) That said, every team in the league makes mistakes drafting, which is why I still find it a very hit or miss proposition.

 

[Real Deal]

Qaws wishes Dion can fuck around and bury 11 trays and score 55 while doing so.

 

[Dshuks]

Another typical Dion game
8 points on 3/10 shooting and 1 rebound in 19 minutes

 

[The Oi]

Ugh. Really wanted to see this kid succeed, even after he got traded.

His biggest issue on the floor from a skill standpoint is that he struggles to get the ball in the hoop after nice drives. But from a mental standpoint, it's that he just doesn't want to accept the role he's suited for.

 

[CHIMOCHIS]

His problem has been known for years

short for SG position, no crazy athleticism, not a great shooter, too much baby fat to defend

 

[SalvadoranCavsfan]

I seem to remember someone well respected on this board said it would be take Dion a few years and a few different teams to finally get it. I wish I could go back and look it up, but I know I didn't want to believe it at the time.

 

[The Human Q-Tip]

I seem to remember someone well respected on this board said it would be take Dion a few years and a few different teams to finally get it. I wish I could go back and look it up, but I know I didn't want to believe it at the time.

I don't mean this negatively at all, but it is not easy for a young guy to understand that he's just not as good as he thought he was. Dion's resistance is understandable in some sense because he is a "fighter", and doesn't yet want to accept/acknowledge his limitations. And he's going to try to keep proving that he's the player he believes himself to be. Unfortunately, in a team context, that means he's going to be trying to do more than his actual talent warrants, and that can be detrimental to a team trying to win games.

What Dion must "finally get" is that he's a limited player -- not a star/superstar. Admitting that can be painful, so it may very well take failure with a couple of teams before he understands that. When/if he finally does, he's got skills that should enable him to contribute meaningfully as a rotational player.

 

[The Edge]

Wow, Dion really sucking and chucking, and OKC falling to the Knicks.
And we keep on rolling.....

 

[Rich]

He's been worse in OKC than he was here this season. 37% shooting. Thirty-seven. 44% true shooting. And you know, this wouldn't be so bad if he was a defensive stalwart who rarely shot the ball. At least there'd still be situations where he could help a team in spot minutes. But this is a guy who takes over 15 shots per 36. Far more often than night he's a negative on the court.

As of right now, Matthew Dellevadova is a more valuable NBA player than is Dion Waiters. Delly will do more good things on the court and less bad things on the court than will Dion Waiters. Yes, Waiters, in spurts, can do more, but Delly is more consistent in his ability to do enough good to outweigh the bad...at least compared to Waiters. I'm not kidding when I say I wouldn't trade Delly straight up for Waiters right now (not taking potential into account), and I'm a guy who wants Delly to get 15-18 minutes a night. That's how damn bad Waiters is right now. He shouldn't be getting more than 15 minutes a night.

It's almost like we were in a different universe when it was being argued prior to the season that this dude could possibly be a top 5 SG this season. It's now a totally valid question as to whether or not he can develop into an above average rotation player.

Dion getting the ball isn't the problem. Dion finding a good fit isn't the problem.

Dion the player is the problem. Either he changes his game or he's gonna be looking at a Rodney Stucky type career, only with the bonus shitty attitude. If Dion Waiters were a free agent after this season I'm not sure he'd get offered much more than a league minimum deal.

 

[Pioneer10]

Ugh. Really wanted to see this kid succeed, even after he got traded.

His biggest issue on the floor from a skill standpoint is that he struggles to get the ball in the hoop after nice drives. But from a mental standpoint, it's that he just doesn't want to accept the role he's suited for.

Honestly, it's still the shooting for me. He had good catch and shoot number last year in the second half and that was what intriguing about him from Cleveland and OKC's perspective. By now everyone has a good scouting report on him but these are two good teams with good playmakers who have taken a chance with him: if he could bury the open jumper teams would have more then lived with the missed bunnies as you don't find many guys who can hit the 3 and drive.

Instead his 3 ball has regressed and this leads to him taking long 2's and driving into traffic. If he wants a career in this league a rotation player on a good team, he's going to have to fix that jumper

 

[Dylan Windler's Mom]

Dion has had 4 coaches in 3 years.. give him some time. He'll be fine.

 

[The Oi]

Dion has had 4 coaches in 3 years.. give him some time. He'll be fine.

4 coaches in 3 years and just as many forms on his shot. And most importantly...1 bad attitude.

 

[gijimbo]

Dion has had 4 coaches in 3 years.. give him some time. He'll be fine.

Reading this was hilarious because I just figured you were making some joke. The joke is funny, because people constantly made this excuse for Dion while he was a Cav.

You aren't kidding though.

Now it's just kind of messed up.

 

[Jack Brickman]

Dion has had 4 coaches in 3 years.. give him some time. He'll be fine.

I mean, Kyrie and Tristan are on their third coaches in three years and they're both doing fine. Having that many coaches certainly doesn't help things, but part of it was clearly Dion's attitude. The team didn't want to cut bait on him, and going into the season all we heard was that LeBron, Griffin, and Gilbert really liked him. It tells you how bad it got that the team felt that they had to trade him.

I liked Dion a lot and wish him the best, but his problems this year were entirely on him. The Cavs needed him to do things that he was unwilling to do and to play a role that he actively refused to play. You can't do that on a title contender and expect to stick around.