The Cavs lost narrowly in a game that featured no defense whatsoever. Let us recap:
–I’m not going to worry too much about the outcome of this one. Or any other Cavs game this year, for that matter. The Cavs struggled down the stretch after clawing their way back into the game in the third quarter and came up short. It’s nothing to lose sleep over. But one troubling thing: we got a serious dose of Kyrie Irving isolations, and normally, I’m fine with Kyrie Irving isolations late in games because I like seeing him dart down the lane through a double team and around a looming big man, but in this particular game, Dion Waiters was playing terrifically, and I would have liked, if Byron Scott could have possibly been bothered to coach this team a little bit, if Waiters could have slid into the corner-three spot normally occupied by Alonzo Gee so that Irving would have a better option to pass to when he inevitably got double-teamed as he tried to dart into the lane. Instead nothing changed, Irving got stripped a couple of times driving to the bucket, easy lay-ins for the Kings, etc. Maybe Kyrie wouldn’t have passed the ball to Waiters either, but, y’know, maybe at least get the guy who had flames shooting out of his butt into a position where he might possibly touch the ball so that the defense has to think about him.
–By the way, this might have been Dion Waiters’s best game as a Cavalier. (With the time he rained flames from heavens against the Clippers being his other notably great game.) Saint Weirdo was really smart in taking it to the rim and drawing fouls in the first half, and then at some point in the fourth quarter, he did that Dion Waiters thing where he took some unconscionably bad shots and just kept hitting them. He finished the game with 33 points on 12-for-18 shooting. He also got to the line eight times (converting six of his attempts), and pitched in five assists. A really, really impressive performance, even against sub-par defense. It’s these sorts of games that give us hope.
–Tristan Thompson had a nice game as well, putting up 17 points and 15 rebounds. He also was the only guy on the court who seemed to bother DeMarcus Cousins (who played very well: 26 points and 14 boards) when DMC caught the ball near the paint. Another coaching note: if TT was the only player on the Cavs’ roster capable of keeping Cousins somewhat in check, why was Zeller allowed anywhere near him? I can perhaps see the wisdom in not sticking Zeller on Thomas Robinson because T-Rob’s a little too athletic for him, but why wasn’t Jason Thompson (a good player in his own right, but he’s no DMC) Zeller’s assignment whenever he was on the floor? I’m not criticizing Zeller at all for getting beat up by Cousins: he just can’t handle him at this point in his career. He was put in a position to fail, and I don’t really understand why. Besides, it seems like Thompson is beginning to relish his role as a defensive stopper. With Andy out, why not throw him on the other team’s best big the whole game and see what he can do?
–I would analyze other players in this game, but it’s difficult to parse the numbers in a contest that featured almost no defense. 12 players finished with double-digit scoring totals, and the teams combined to shoot 49% from the field. Under normal circumstances, I would be applauding #FREECASSPI for putting up 10 points or C.J. Miles for putting up a (I swear) very quiet 17 points, but, y’know, this one finished 124-to-118, so those numbers are a little inflated. It was a fun game to watch, though, especially if you like freneticism for freneticism’s sake.
The Cavs travel to Portland Wednesday to take on the Trail Blazers. Dame Lillard v. Kyrie Irving should be fantastic. Until tomorrow, friends.
@shepsie
Hollinger, a noted stats guy, actually had Dion pretty high in his pre-draft rankings and wrote that players with his profile rarely fail. So not all the stats geeks are necessarily anti-dion, although his efficiency has been seriously lacking.
I love everything about Dion – except he can’t shoot and he thinks he can. I love the pick (saw the draft rater Versus is referencing) and I knew people from Syracuse that loved him. Chad ford said a few execs were convinced Waiters was the only player not named Davis from this class with superstar potential. I can do enough mental gymnastics to see it too. Dwayne Wade’s not a great shooter, Russell Westbrook’s not a great shooter, Tony Parker’s not a great shooter. Monta Ellis isn’t a great shooter. Those guys can flat out score because they can finish at the rack. As long as Dion is working on that I have no qualms with him. When he barely grazes the rim on contested out of rhythm twos its disconcerting. He has a broken shot. Its OK but its also OK to point out that poor shot selection is a bad trait that he needs to improve on. He also needs to work away from the ball. (this is a team wide problem)
No KJ, you did a single game. Name me any rookie who averaged 25 minutes a game, and I bet I can find a one game sample from that season to use 3 or 4 stats from that puts them in elite company. Not nearly as easy to partition someone into elite or poor company based on season stats.
I’m glad Hollinger likes him, I respect Hollingers opinion more than most other espn guys, but he and his methods are still wrong from time to time. I don’t think or hope that he’ll be wrong on Dion, but right now dion is struggling, and there is no guarantee he gets a lot better. Its far to early to call him a bust or reach, and I don’t think he will be, but wait until he actually has a positive effect on the court for a string of games before you group him in the “Certain good draft pick” category.
Mallory, you many many times bemoaned that he was drafted, and fretted for the future of the franchise because of the missed pick there. I did the same thing. We were wrong on Tristan, and we should be happy to admit it. Now Dion I never said was a missed pick, or a reach. But to say grant “Hit” on him is premature. Sure his percentages will go up, but they have much farther to go than most rookie SGs (Beal isn’t the only young shooting gaurd, and he is also struggling, so don’t give me that example.) That is cause for concern, not cause for giving up hope or cause for calling out the GM. Dion gets to the rim quite well, but doesn’t know how to finish there or draw fouls, refs fault or not. The guy doesn’t have nearly the ups or dunking ability Wade has, and that isn’t likely to change. I’ve seen him maybe once flush home a slam over somebody, and expected it tens of times only for him to not quite reach it.
As far as hitting/missing on draft picks, Carter hit the nail on the head – it’s very difficult to know how well a guy is going to perform at the NBA level. Even Hollinger’s draft rater admittedly misses on guys – most notable recent examples include Michael Beasley and Tyrus Thomas (off the charts good on DR). To me, whether or not Dion becomes D-Wade light or Barnes becomes the next Carmelo Anthony is not really a reflection of the GM selecting in the draft but the player development.
As far as drafting goes, I think the GM is more culpable for things like “selecting a project over a known entity” or “selecting BPA over position of need”. Waiters was less of known entity than Barnes but I think he has more upside. It was just as much a position of need as SF so there’s no right or wrong there. The decision to not draft Drummond – THE project of the draft and another one of the Cavs position of need was sealed when they drafted Tristan Thompson. The idea of two raw bigs that can’t shoot outside 5 feet and might not be able to hit FT above 50% doesn’t make much sense (TT has since proven otherwise). So the Waiters pick makes all sorts of sense.
The TT pick made much less sense wrt this team fitting stuff. Cavs had 2 PF (varejao/hickson), and no center much less a center that could shoot. So JV seemed attractive to many people (including myself). Cavs may have drafted BPA AND a project in TT. I’m very happy with TT’s improvements and I think he might prove Chris Grant a genius. However, the Cavs do have serious floor spacing problems, and Tyler Zeller is the Cavs “big that can shoot”. We’ll see how that works out.
Swirving -
Totally fair. I definitely bemoaned the pick itself, but I always said everything with the caveat that I’d be beyond happy if he put it together.
Tonight will be an interested match up for TT since Aldridge is longer/uses more finesse than TT usually goes up against.
and by interested I mean INTERESTING
Another match up to watch will be Zeller and Hickson. JJ doesn’t have the size to play center. Tyler should be able to take advantage. If Portland double teams (I’m guessing they will), he needs to find the open man. Cavs should have open looks tonight.