While I know that I am going to post something about Dion in the Dion thread, there was an interesting point made when the discussion turned to Bradley Beal. The observation was that Beal has shot 78% from the line over the last two years...and that truly great shooters, in the mold of Ray Allen (the general comparison for Beal coming out of college) or Reggie Miller (and now Durant, Curry and Thompson) are well over 80% from the line. While Dion clearly worked extremely hard last summer (and it has clearly showed this year) on his 3 point stroke and other key items, the fact that he has shot .684 from the line is not just inexcusable, but appalling. According to ESPN stats, this places Dion BEHIND such luminary shooters such as TRISTAN THOMPSON. Here is a copy of the current rankings from ESPN:
107 Tristan Thompson, PF CLE 81 11.7 2.9 4.2 234 338 .692
Al Jefferson, C CHA 72 22.0 2.6 3.8 189 273 .692
109 Marcin Gortat, C WSH 80 13.2 1.9 2.8 154 224 .688
110 Dion Waiters, SG CLE 69 15.9 2.3 3.3 158 231 .684
PER GAME TOTAL
RK PLAYER TEAM GP PPG FTM FTA FTM FTA FT%
111 Giannis Antetokounmpo, SG MIL 76 6.8 1.8 2.7 138 202 .683
112 Derrick Favors, C UTAH 72 13.2 2.6 3.9 185 278 .665
113 Greg Monroe, PF DET 81 15.1 2.9 4.4 237 358 .662
114 Kenneth Faried, PF DEN 78 13.6 2.5 3.8 194 299 .649
NOW, THAT'S SOME STROKERS.
There really is NO excuse for any guy who has range and a good stroke to shoot less than 75% and should actually be at or much closer to 80%. It also means that a team cannot have full confidence in your ability coming down the stretch if you are to be "the man" or "one of the two men". Dion shoots about 3.5 FT a game and, as soon as he stops pouting each time he drives and misses the shot (which I do believe DOES affect the refs as no ref will look to give the benefit of the doubt to someone who is constantly complaining....I know this through when I lived with my (thankfully) ex-wife), I think that number has a good chance to rise. While he doesn't have to become Reggie Miller, he also does not need to continue to be the 2nd coming of Tristan.
As hard as he worked last summer on his game is the time he needs to devote to free throw shooting only. This is the one spot, with or without Kyrie, that Dion needs to dramatically improve upon next year.