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Dion Waiters Traded

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Grade the Trade (Waiters + Kirk/Amundsen + 2nd rd pick for Smith, Shumpert, and 1st rd pick)

  • A+

    Votes: 18 7.1%

  • A

    Votes: 68 26.7%

  • B

    Votes: 106 41.6%

  • C

    Votes: 44 17.3%

  • D

    Votes: 10 3.9%

  • F

    Votes: 9 3.5%
  • Total voters
    255
  • Poll closed .
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Playoff$ God said:
I was at the game last night, and it was pretty evident that Dion was the fastest player on the floor. Also, Kawhi Leonard is build like a small forward version of Bennett in that he is a chiseled tank.
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i love kawhi leonard. despite playing on a really well known team he is absurdly underrated for some reason.
 
He plays for the Spurs, they are just the steady as we go franchise, that's why you dont hear about him.
 
*L-Train* said:
i think because he has trouble finishing around the rim many people assume that he's not very athletic...
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Which is concerning. Lots of people here are making the argument that he is super athletic, yet he sill can't finish around the rim. How valuable is your athleticism if you can't finish around the rim and 39% of your field goal attempts are coming from mid range?
 
elcheato said:
Which is concerning. Lots of people here are making the argument that he is super athletic, yet he sill can't finish around the rim. How valuable is your athleticism if you can't finish around the rim and 39% of your field goal attempts are coming from mid range?
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He's young. Many guards come into the league and struggle with against adjusting to the bigger defenders and rim protectors of the NBA. If I'm not mistaken finishing is a skill that players typically improve on as they gain more experience. Nothing to freak out about.
 
Kawhi would've been a bit of a supposed 'reach' in that 2011 draft but I really wanted the Cavs to draft him. (Will confess at the time wanted Jonas more due to his position though). How much further along we would be with Kawhi (or even Klay) instead of Tristan. On a sidenote my 11 year old son plays on a travel team coached by one of his old grade school coaches out of Riverside. KL is a really good kid off the court too.

Back to Dion, I'm really thrilled with his development. With his will, and the fact he's learning to finish around the basket strong, could easily become a future 20 PPG scorer.
 
daytripper said:
Kawhi would've been a bit of a supposed 'reach' in that 2011 draft but I really wanted the Cavs to draft him. (Will confess at the time wanted Jonas more due to his position though). How much further along we would be with Kawhi (or even Klay) instead of Tristan. On a sidenote my 11 year old son plays on a travel team coached by one of his old grade school coaches out of Riverside. KL is a really good kid off the court too.

Back to Dion, I'm really thrilled with his development. With his will, and the fact he's learning to finish around the basket strong, could easily become a future 20 PPG scorer.
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Right now he is at 18.4 or something per 36 minutes. If Brown would just play him the minutes he should he would be close to a 20 point scorer now.
 
I'm surprised there is not more talk about how good Dion played his first game back from a knee injury. Dude was ballin, he, Kyrie and Hawes were the only ones who played worth a shit. I like how Dion, Kyrie and Hawes fit together also, they all benefit from each other now. Dion/Kyrie have room to drive and if the defense collapses or Hawes man comes in, they just kick it out to Hawes for a wide open jumper.
 
Was impressed with how smooth his shot looked. Tells me he was working on it even while he was injured making sure he kept certain aspects of his form in place. Good sign.
 
Saor said:
Was impressed with how smooth his shot looked. Tells me he was working on it even while he was injured making sure he kept certain aspects of his form in place. Good sign.
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As his jumper gets more consistent, he is going to explode. It will be pick your poison with Dion and he will continue to get to the hoop at will. One of his knocks in his rookie season was that he could not score on a good defense. That has really turned around this year, and he seems to play well on the road as well. Good indicators for the future and hopefully for the playoffs.
 
Really was nice to see Dion back last night. Now, I'm not sure if MB really wants a player laughing and putting his arm around him a few seconds after a tech, but that was a cool moment to see. It shows that Dion is trying, it is hard to remember but he would have NEVER done something like that in the beginning of the year.

He really seems to be settling in and lowering his defenses some.
 
[video=youtube;sb8CRiEfVZw]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sb8CRiEfVZw[/video]
 
Agree with the last few posts; he looked great for his first night back... or really any night, actually.

His shot looked smooth, he gave some effort on defense, and his moment with Mike Brown was actually nice to see, especially for a Brown hater like me. I don't know how much stock to put into it, but speaking of heartwarming moments, I really loved the moment he and Kyrie had (I think in the third quarter) near the scorers table where Kyrie was seemingly trying to pick him up and looked to be offering some genuine encouragement. Hard to tell, though, given I obviously don't know a single thing that was said.

If I remember correctly, that came right after a no-call on a Dion drive where he went strong at the Spurs big in the paint (Splitter, I think) and it probably should've been a foul because of body contact (that's a foul if it's Wade). Believe it or not, Dion yelled "aye" as it happened and threw up his hands and didn't get back on D.

That play was a great example of two things: 1) in general, I see him going inside with strength instead of just finesse more often recently, which I think has been one of his biggest problems in terms of finishing inside, and that's encouraging; and 2) echoing pretty much everybody here, he basically needs to start building up goodwill/humility equity with the refs by absolutely forcing himself to keep his mouth shut after every single drive, foul or not, and intentionally break his habit of yelling and putting on a display. It should be a conscious intention on his part to just do it - not because big boys don't cry, but more because if he does that for a while, I think the refs will start to take notice. Maybe later in his career he can re-adopt "aye" into his on court vocabulary, but I can't see such a drastic 180 for him going unnoticed and unappreciated by the refs. The refs see all.
 
I don't think it's the aye that's the problem. It's the screaming and 1 and then getting bitchy at the refs afterwards. Although I may be a bit biased because I find it goofy when he drives and yells aye.
 
Splitz said:
is he really that far off of a prime Dwayne Wade as far as athleticism??
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Far off from PRIME Wade? Yes. If Wade in his prime was a 10, Dion is a 7.5. That's not meant to be a knock on Dion, but i think some of you forget how much of an athletic freak Wade really was in his prime. Is Dion in the top 20 of the league right now in terms of athleticism? Serious question.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/LkX951BsNP8" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
 
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