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Dion Waiters

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Tornicade said:
Dion has started the last two games. today he was 4-8 from inside the perimeter and the 3 pointers he did take were mostly within the offense.

Although noone wants to hear it Dion is fitting well within okc and although his shooting could improve he has been pretty solid on the defensive end.
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That's like saying that the turd that I just passed was firm and brown compared to the diarrhea that exploded out of my ass last night after eating at the local Mexican restaurant. Anyone you look at it, it's still shitty.
 
Tornicade said:
Dion has started the last two games. today he was 4-8 from inside the perimeter and the 3 pointers he did take were mostly within the offense.

Although noone wants to hear it Dion is fitting well within okc and although his shooting could improve he has been pretty solid on the defensive end.
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I hate to pile on Dion, but when you say "he's fitting in well" I'm not sure what you mean other than they continue to play him and there haven't been any outbursts or issues. Thats good of course but it doesn't say much for how he's actually playing.

In January(played 12 games with OKC) he shot 36% from the field overall and 22% from 3P

In February, he shot 39% overall and 33% from 3P

In March so far, he is shooting 35% from the field and 22% from 3P

Averages matter more than occasional good or bad game. Those averages are terrible for a 3rd year SG.

In fact for the entire season, of those players qualified for league leaders, Dion is 113 out of 116 with a 38% FG%. Which could be somewhat mitigated if he was an excellent or even above average 3P shooter, but he's not and as a result he ranks tied for last with Trey Burke for small PPS(point per shot) at .097

He has a lot to work on if he ever wants to stick playing on a winning team where he is not one of the main 3 options that gets to dominate the ball.
 
Futuredome said:
You mean Lebron didn't offer to work with him as with kyrie,love,TT,AV ete in the summer? Put it this way. They isolated him and he basically was working alone, told to copy how Wade played off Lebron............end of communication. Sounds like recipe for a mess. They almost had him dealt off before the season and he wasn't part of the plan.

Dion was expecting Love to be the 2nd option while he played the mini-Wade role while Irving shot off the ball. Never happened. Irving was yacking up shots left and right out of the gate and the Spurs redux was a joke.

For Dion and Love, it will be a interesting summer.
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So you're saying that a twenty-two year old multi-millionaire can't figure out for himself what the weaknesses are in his game and work on them? He did that between his freshman and sophomore year. His shooting was much improved in his second year, especially from three. His free throws still needed work, as did his rebounding and finishing at the rim. I assumed he'd be working on those over the summer, along with tightening up his outside shot. The problem is, he came back worse at literally everything. I don't even know how that's possible. My guess is that he just didn't put in the work after he heard LeBron was coming back. He probably thought everything would be easy from there.

I was as big a Dion supporter as anyone, but the fact is that he regressed in virtually every way this year. He was given a chance to play on a contender and he threw it away by not improving over the summer. For a guy going into his third year, that's unacceptable. We killed Kyrie for it last year when he didn't seem to make any improvements (and Kyrie's third year looks like it's from a different league than Dion's). Dion deserves the same treatment, if not worse because he's morphed from a promising young combo guard into a below replacement level guy in less than a year.
 
Dion may not be shooting well, but he's always been the kind of guy who does the little things that help his team win.

:chuckle:
 
In his past 10 games, Dion is 43/121 (35.5% FG) and he's only shot 38% or higher in one game during that stretch.
 
So Dion Waiters is a shitshow and is now a below average player. Can we just lock this thread up and move the fuck on?
 
Man Called X said:
So Dion Waiters is a shitshow and is now a below average player. Can we just lock this thread up and move the fuck on?
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We at least need to know how well he's sleeping these days.
 
Waiters has a contract for next season as the Cavs picked up his 4th year option. My expectation is that he and OKC will not agree to an extension this offseason and he'll be a QO player at best going into the 2016 offseason unless he has a drastic turnaround.
 
From Grantland's 'NBA shootaround' today:

http://grantland.com/the-triangle/nba-shootaround-no-days-off/

Jason Concepcion: Some months ago — never mind how long ago precisely — with only a paltry 10 field goal attempts per game in my purse, and no respect from my peers, I dreamed of setting out from Cleveland and sailing west in search of a place to call my own. Whenever my mood fell dark under the spell of those grim and gray Rust Belt skies, I would raise my arms to the heavens and pray for some ship to deliver me to new pastures.

I got my wish. I resolved to shoot more and shoot more and shoot again.

Dion Waiters Island Journal, Game 33

The Celtics are on the island, fighting for a playoff spot, just like us.

First quarter.

Men lie, and it was men who created numbers as well as methods of dividing numbers to create shooting percentages, which, by extension, are obviously lies. I’m shooting 35 percent in March. I begin the game 3-of-5; Russell shoots 1-of-7. The air is fragrant with the scent of flowers in bloom, and the spray off the waves feels like kisses upon my upraised arms.

Second quarter.

I miss all five of my shots. Some huge bastard — Canadian, they tell me — with hair like an Amazon and rough-spun hands like leather mitts, disrupts my layup, a sure bucket if I ever saw one. I corral the ball, and, spotting the giant again lumbering toward me, fade backward, releasing the shot like a rainbow tracing a perfect arc towa— and he blocks it again. The sun darkens, and the wind screams off the rocks.

Third quarter.

I miss both of my shots. Why only two shots? John Donne once wrote that no man is an island, but in every picture I’ve ever seen of him, John Donne is wearing a doily around his neck.

donne1.jpg


Fourth quarter.

I stunned Steven Adams by passing him the ball with two seconds left on the shot clock. Thunder win. I shoot 4-of-14 and score eight points. Four of my layup attempts smash against the glass like dead birds and never even hit the rim.

I’ve now missed 80 of my last 121 shots, which includes missing 25 of my last 31 3s and 10 of my last 26 free throws. I have 23 assists in 10 games. Men lie, it’s true. Buckets, though, buckets …
 
Dion is being used as a small forward at the moment. He has a dip this season in his shooting percentage but he has two seasons showing he can do better on the offensive end. I was hoping we would see a boost in his shooting this season but it doesnt appear its gonna happen. that doesnt mean it wont. Historically NBA players that have seen a dip in their 2-4th season bounce back. Dion has been fundamentally sound. He stated he would be a two way player this season and has improved dramatically on the defensive end. His skills on that end surprised Brooks as it was the first thing Brooks commented on when he got dion in camp. He beat out Singler and morrow for the starting gig while durant is out.
 
cavsfever said:
From Grantland's 'NBA shootaround' today:

http://grantland.com/the-triangle/nba-shootaround-no-days-off/

Jason Concepcion: Some months ago — never mind how long ago precisely — with only a paltry 10 field goal attempts per game in my purse, and no respect from my peers, I dreamed of setting out from Cleveland and sailing west in search of a place to call my own. Whenever my mood fell dark under the spell of those grim and gray Rust Belt skies, I would raise my arms to the heavens and pray for some ship to deliver me to new pastures.

I got my wish. I resolved to shoot more and shoot more and shoot again.

Dion Waiters Island Journal, Game 33

The Celtics are on the island, fighting for a playoff spot, just like us.

First quarter.

Men lie, and it was men who created numbers as well as methods of dividing numbers to create shooting percentages, which, by extension, are obviously lies. I’m shooting 35 percent in March. I begin the game 3-of-5; Russell shoots 1-of-7. The air is fragrant with the scent of flowers in bloom, and the spray off the waves feels like kisses upon my upraised arms.

Second quarter.

I miss all five of my shots. Some huge bastard — Canadian, they tell me — with hair like an Amazon and rough-spun hands like leather mitts, disrupts my layup, a sure bucket if I ever saw one. I corral the ball, and, spotting the giant again lumbering toward me, fade backward, releasing the shot like a rainbow tracing a perfect arc towa— and he blocks it again. The sun darkens, and the wind screams off the rocks.

Third quarter.

I miss both of my shots. Why only two shots? John Donne once wrote that no man is an island, but in every picture I’ve ever seen of him, John Donne is wearing a doily around his neck.

donne1.jpg


Fourth quarter.

I stunned Steven Adams by passing him the ball with two seconds left on the shot clock. Thunder win. I shoot 4-of-14 and score eight points. Four of my layup attempts smash against the glass like dead birds and never even hit the rim.

I’ve now missed 80 of my last 121 shots, which includes missing 25 of my last 31 3s and 10 of my last 26 free throws. I have 23 assists in 10 games. Men lie, it’s true. Buckets, though, buckets …
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Man, I love Grantland's writers. :chuckle:
 
Waiters has now played as many games for OKC as he has played for the Cavs this year.

Let's review stats:

[parsehtml]<iframe src="http://www.basketball-reference.com/play-index/share.cgi?id=Ae20y&output=iframe" width=790 height=174 scrolling=auto>
Report Created on <a href="http://www.basketball-reference.com/">Basketball-Reference.com</a>
</iframe>[/parsehtml]
The bad:
  • Shooting has gone from "bad" to "shockingly horrible"
  • Assist rate dropped off a cliff
  • Usage rate is now noticeably below his career average in Cle
  • Steals & blocks returned to career averages after a promising start
  • +/- scores went sour for both offense and defense, now worst of his career
  • PER & VORP below replacement level
The good
  • Turnover rate is greatly improved, but it correlates with the assists ( 30% less turnovers on 40% less assists)
  • Rebounding rate returned to career averages of "weak for his position", instead of "completely disinterested" like he started the season. I'd expect an SG to get closer to 6% RBR.
  • Makes Delly look like a quality backup combo guard
I like Dion, but man, he started this season as promising young player looking for a break out year, but was looking like a train wreck by December, and now after the trade, he's moved into "league laughing stock" territory. So glad Dion is someone else's problem now. Maybe the Cavs sign him at min salary in 3 years if they want him back.
 
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Honest question here about Dion in college versus the pros. I didn't watch him in college at all. But other than a higher FG% his sophomore year, which may be due to it being so much easier to score at the rim v. college players, he looks basically like the same guy. Not a great FT shooter, relatively poor with assists/rebounding. I'd post those numbers for comparison with his pro number except I don't know how.

So my question is this: Has Dion regressed, or is he basically the same guy as he was in college and just never adapted/improve significantly?
 
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