Dion Waiters Traded

Wet Blanket Windy strikes again!

Jack Brickman said:

Wet Blanket Windy strikes again!

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Waiting for the #ProtectWindy crew to strike in 3...2...1...

The Human Q-Tip said:

Do you think Dion thinks he's a "role player?"

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Role player is a tough term. Everyone is a role player, everyone has a role. Lebron is a role player. His role is to be the team leader and team MVP.

LeShaq said:

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I wouldn't have a problem with that if we had someone remotely good enough to start imo. Dion could kill it off the bench for this team and still get 30+ mins a game. Dion fills the Ginobly role perfect. But, we don't have a Danny Green D and 3 type player, and no Miller just isn't good enough anymore imo.

Jack Brickman said:

Wet Blanket Windy strikes again!

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And again...
View: https://twitter.com/HammerNation19/status/525624300230172673

Do you think if LeBron James wanted Windy to be fired he would be fired?

It once again sounds like Brian Windhorst is speculating. He has proven he doesn't have inside information anymore, or at least not at the level he once had. Also, going on KNR weekly shows you how much his star has fallen.

Dion Waiters is our best 2 guard, is improving, and has LeBron's support Maybe we should wait until, y'know, the season starts and see how the real games go?

TheNewEra said:

Windy just said on "Hey Windy" that Mike Miller will be the first person off the bench for Dion and that their plan is to get Dion to want to come off the bench.

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If Windy knows, wouldn't Dion know too?

When was the last time that Brian was right about anything? He's consistently wrong. He actually says the opposite of what ends up happening most of the time.

I know the higher-ups of the board defend him, but I'm sorry. The guy is trash now, I've seen enough.

I don't need to hear from people on a message board that "he's actually not that bad". I'm going by what I see, and Brian Windhorst is a shit reporter these days. Absolute shit.

I am a HUGE Dion fan but does it really matter whether he starts or not this year? Bringing him off the bench would probably give us the best bench in the NBA.

If Blatt thinks that is best for our success, make him the 6th man. If Waiters can't accept that role, that is HIS problem, not the teams. Ego's will not be tolerated with Blatt and James leading this team, i can tell you that much right now already.

Kbiz8288 said:

I am a HUGE Dion fan but does it really matter whether he starts or not this year? Bringing him off the bench would probably give us the best bench in the NBA.

If Blatt thinks that is best for our success, make him the 6th man. If Waiters can't accept that role, that is HIS problem, not the teams. Ego's will not be tolerated with Blatt and James leading this team, i can tell you that much right now already.

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I just don't see who we could start in his place that wouldn't be a major downgrade. sure, Miller on paper is a better shooter but he is not even in the same stratosphere as Dion when it comes to running the floor, playing defense, setting up other players, etc. furthermore, he's also looked terrible in the pre seaon as well. We didn't bring him here to start we brought him here as a lockerroom presence and a for his shooting. We lose so much offensive versatility by putting him in the line-up instead of Dion and that makes our offense easier to contain, imo. The same goes for basically anyone else who could play that position on our roster. sure, we have better pure shooters other than Dion but the flexibility and defense we give up in putting him on the bench makes it a real tough pill to swallow for me personally.

blommen said:

I just don't see who we could start in his place that wouldn't be a major downgrade. sure, Miller on paper is a better shooter but he is not even in the same stratosphere as Dion when it comes to running the floor, playing defense, setting up other players, etc. furthermore, he's also looked terrible in the pre seaon as well. We didn't bring him here to start we brought him here as a lockerroom presence and a for his shooting. We lose so much offensive versatility by putting him in the line-up instead of Dion and that makes our offense easier to contain, imo. The same goes for basically anyone else who could play that position on our roster. sure, we have better pure shooters other than Dion but the flexibility and defense we give up in putting him on the bench makes it a real tough pill to swallow for me personally.

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I hear ya but with James, Love and Irving all in our starting lineup, do we really need to worry about our 4th option, from an offensive standpoint?

I completely agree that Miller shouldn't start and sure, our SG depth is pretty thin, but we know that Waiters can dominate games. He has dropped 30 on multiple occasions. Think how much easier he would get buckets against a team's second team?

I am merely suggesting that moving Waiters to the bench shouldn't be looked at as a knock against Dion but rather a way of using his skill set to the fullest. In the pre-season, he has slowed down the offense a couple times. That shouldn't happen when Love and James are on the court. If he can adapt to his role just a little better, there's no need to move him. However, if he maintains that "get mine" attitude (which i love him for), perhaps he is better suited coming off the bench.

Kbiz8288 said:

I hear ya but with James, Love and Irving all in our starting lineup, do we really need to worry about our 4th option, from an offensive standpoint?

I completely agree that Miller shouldn't start and sure, our SG depth is pretty thin, but we know that Waiters can dominate games. He has dropped 30 on multiple occasions. Think how much easier he would get buckets against a team's second team?

I am merely suggesting that moving Waiters to the bench shouldn't be looked at as a knock against Dion but rather a way of using his skill set to the fullest. In the pre-season, he has slowed down the offense a couple times. That shouldn't happen when Love and James are on the court. If he can adapt to his role just a little better, there's no need to move him. However, if he maintains that "get mine" attitude (which i love him for), perhaps he is better suited coming off the bench.

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I see your point, but at the same time i don't see Waiters as a 4th option or any kind of option for that matter. What makes him so dangerous in our starting line-up is his versatility which, if realized to it's fullest in the offense, is going to make us that much harder to guard because he is able to impact the offense in soooo many more ways than any other potential starter. It gives us far more options to have him on the floor with the starters, the opposing teams defense has to account for one athletic, versatile offensive threat who can also get others involved. By putting him on the bench you basically give him the role of ball dominant scorer and while he can certainly be effective in that role, especially against inferior talent, I just think the impact his mere presence will have as a starter for us is off-setting that. Once Dion (and everyone else for that matter) get accustomed to blatts system I honestly think he is going to thrive as a starter, much more so than having him continue to do what he did last year, albeit against weaker competition.

Edit:
In the end, I think we agree that it is all a matter of how well he transitions into our offensive system. I personally don't think he's been so bad at stopping the ball on offense, and at the same time almost everyone of our players outside of maybe Kyrie have looked a bit sketchy in pre-season, but again, as you would probably agree, that is to be expected. Dion's performance comes with an asterisk because of the way he has been, somewhat rightfully percieved in his past two seasons. I just think that with the way our lockerroom and staff is set up this year compared to his last two seasons, he has all the incentive and opportunities he needs to make a 180 and change that perception.

Kbiz8288 said:

I am a HUGE Dion fan but does it really matter whether he starts or not this year? Bringing him off the bench would probably give us the best bench in the NBA.

If Blatt thinks that is best for our success, make him the 6th man. If Waiters can't accept that role, that is HIS problem, not the teams. Ego's will not be tolerated with Blatt and James leading this team, i can tell you that much right now already.

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This is a fair point. And maybe using the Bogans exception for a 3 & D wing (like Corey Brewer), and then having a bench led by Dion is ultimately then best way to go. I know Lowe has written about this, and if we can't get Mozgov it does make some sense.

Lee said:

Role player is a tough term. Everyone is a role player, everyone has a role. Lebron is a role player. His role is to be the team leader and team MVP.

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That may be your definition, but if that was the generally understood definition of a "role player", then the term would have no value.

Nor would that definition make any sense in the particular context in which it was used by Cashius X, which was contrasting the attention given in RCF to Dion as a "role player" with the attention given to LBJ, Love, and Kyrie.

I commented on it because I thought it was an interesting statement coming from someone who generally backs Dion. On this team, I think Dion actually is a role player. On another team, he might not be.

Kbiz8288 said:

I hear ya but with James, Love and Irving all in our starting lineup, do we really need to worry about our 4th option, from an offensive standpoint?

I completely agree that Miller shouldn't start and sure, our SG depth is pretty thin, but we know that Waiters can dominate games. He has dropped 30 on multiple occasions. Think how much easier he would get buckets against a team's second team?

I am merely suggesting that moving Waiters to the bench shouldn't be looked at as a knock against Dion but rather a way of using his skill set to the fullest. In the pre-season, he has slowed down the offense a couple times. That shouldn't happen when Love and James are on the court. If he can adapt to his role just a little better, there's no need to move him. However, if he maintains that "get mine" attitude (which i love him for), perhaps he is better suited coming off the bench.

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It seems Dion will never shake the 6th man talk. It will be a constant conversation for the entirety of his career, I think. It has to be frustrating for him.

I feel like the "who cares who starts?" crew is lacking in the empathy department regarding this issue. I don't want to be that prick who makes the blanket accusation, "well, you guys must have never been athletes," but it does seem like this crew has at least forgotten what starting really means when you're a player, not a fan.

It's a distinction that matters. Forget that "starter's minutes" nonsense. You either start or don't. When you measure yourself against your peers (and everyone does, none more so than Dion), starting or not is a black and white distinction in sports. The best players start. If you come off the bench, every evaluation of yourself, and every argument you make in your favor has to account for the caveat of non-starter. It requires an explanation, "Well I don't start because..."

What was the thing Wall went right after in the fake little "war" of words? Yeah, that guy doesn't even start. You think Dion doesn't care about that? Dion, who seems to me to be one of those personalities that cares so deeply about what people think of him, but acts like he doesn't. You know the type: I don't care what anybody thinks of me, and I really want everyone to know and be impressed by that.

The examples of "great" 6th men includes all kinds of explanations for their roles. The best players need no explanations. And Dion either believes, wants to believe, or wants everyone else to believe he's one of the best.

Yeah, but who cares what Dion wants? All that matters is what's best for the team. Except Dion unhappy with his role might not be best for the team. Dion wanting to leave so he can go shine elsewhere (which he could probably do as a scoring lead guard on another team) might not be so good. Finally, the bullshit about strengthening the bench is just that. If I'm Dion, I'm like are you kidding me? I'm better, so start me. That's what you do with your best players. And where you can sub guys in, as many as you want, at any time, shifting Dion between PG and SG, I can't see how bringing him in after a few minutes instead of starting him adds so much strategic value to the team.

So for me, you keep Dion a starter. If he's not working out, it wouldn't be his starting that would be the problem, it would be Dion that's the problem.

Just a writer regurgitating some already known shit into a rumor.

http://www.hngn.com/articles/46946/...dion-waiters-trade-happen-cavs-need-quick.htm

That being said, Dion is my favorite player on the team but if we got a really good rim protector and we'd have to package him for it I wouldn't not be too upset. We have enough offensive firepower without him- and his defense is nothing special. Hopefully he'd go to a playoff team where he could shine.