It was an amazing display of how not to shoot the basketball. :gap:
The Cavs certainly played some solid interior defense (Zeller blocked and affected quite a few shots) but the Bobcats were just clanging jumpers.
Dion wandered a bit too much on D and didn't get down in to a stance. It was obvious that his offense was effecting his effort and body language on defense.
It's summer league though, so people need to keep it in perspective. It's a glorified open gym.
Yes, Dion played horrendous defense in all facets. He was disinterested in getting back in transition, he watched the ball-handler too much, completely disregarding his own man on several occasions before suddenly oh-shit remembering he's playing man-to-man, he gambled on jumping into passing lanes without any of the success that occasionally justifies the risk, and, most alarmingly, his on-ball defense was atrocious, consisting exclusively of high-stanced, on-his-heels, slapping, reaching or reach-around attempts (always a bad idea) after his man blew by him. The one that really stands out to me was when Charlotte's Carlon Brown drove straight towards him, gave a weak shake, and Dion just stood there and let him go by without moving his feet whatsoever then attempted the last resort reach-around poke
hay
to try and get the ball out, giving up the And-1 layup.
With Dion it's just one summer league game, so who cares?
With Zeller it means he's a successful pick already.
Don't know if we can have it both ways. (not saying you did this in your post)
This one game doesn't mean much at all. Maybe nothing. But given the uncertainty that comes with evaluating draft prospects (now rookies, technically), it's hard to not be bummed a little about Dion's performance. His defense was consistently horrendous -- not just in understanding the concepts, but in effort, as well. His offense wasn't much more impressive. He looked like a streaky, scores-in-bunches, sixth man combo guard out there in that his effort and mentality was either green-light chucking or completely uninvolved, with little middle ground. His shots weren't falling, but it's not like he was taking good, open shots that should have gone in, for the most part. He looked completely disinterested in doing anything away from the ball, or even just moving to create a passing lane on the perimeter. And his drives were occasionally sloppy and out of control.
AND it's just one summer league game. So it means virtually nothing. Byron hasn't even begun to mold him or indoctrinate him. Nerves and rust affect some players differently than others. He may have been asked to do some things differently without Kyrie out there. And perhaps most importantly, I think this summer team's wings might be the worst I've ever seen in anything even ostensibly related to professional basketball. Temple and Kennedy made me physically ill watching them. And the bigs were setting terrible picks, as well. Ben Wallace and Andy might be our only really competent pick-setters in the past decade. It always seems lacking on this team.
Speaking of bigs, I'm with Pioneer on that Tristan Thompson dissatisfaction. This isn't just one summer league game, it's another look at the kid after watching him struggle with many basketball-related skills for a year, only to see him still struggling with those same things. He is so damn weak. One move. Can't back anybody down and power his way inside, nor does he possess the finesse to spin off his man or footwork to maneuver his way in; he just dribbles parallel to the baseline, no movement toward the hoop and the path of least resistance, and throws up that awkward hook/park ball slop toward the basket. That's not an NBA move. He's still stuttering stanley when he gets the ball under the basket, shuffling, pumping, and shaking rather than just powering up through contact. How about the one play where it was saved from going out of bounds to him directly under the basket, only for him to actually wait for the defenders to get back to him rather than just jumping. What has he been doing this off-season?
That was a long rant. Sorry. But I'm excited to see Dion again, particularly against a team that doesn't run a fucking bush-league zone defense. There were some signs, but really I'm just anxious to get another chance to watch him get another chance to play. I think he'll be exciting when he finds his comfort zone and after Byron reminds him that his defense is his defense. As for Tristan, I'm being too hard on him, I know. But I'm having a harder time by the day imagining him becoming any sort of important player in this league. But it's still too early, so I'll just try to be a more patient fan, I guess.
