Cleveland Browns vs. Houston Texans: Behind the Box Score
November 18, 2014Excellent Cavs-based colorways of the LeBron 12 thanks to NIKEiD
November 18, 2014While questions still loom regarding Dion Waiters and the guard’s willingness to embrace a role off of the Cleveland Cavaliers’ bench, the third-year sparkplug out of Syracuse has (once again) started saying all of the right things.
From Chris Haynes at the NEOMG:
“I would be very grateful, thankful for the opportunity [to win the NBA’s Sixth Man of the Year award],” Waiters told Northeast Ohio Media Group. “I’ve just got to keep doing what I’m doing. Hopefully we can keep winning and I’m able to walk away with it.
“I’m a leading scorer on the bench, I’m a leading scorer in the starting five. It doesn’t matter. You know what I’m saying.”
In the team’s first three games as a starter (a role he was intent on having heading into the season), Waiters averaged 8.3 points on 30 percent shooting. Since being replaced by veteran swingman Shawn Marion over the last five games, Waiters has increased his average to 12.2 points while shooting 45 percent from the floor. As a reserve in 2013-14, Waiters produced 14.7 points per game on 43 percent shooting, earning him a solitary second-place vote for the reserve award that ultimately went to Jamal Crawford of the Los Angeles Clippers (18.6 points, 3.2 assists and 2.3 rebounds in 30.3 minutes per game).
[Related: Dion Waiters could flourish in a bench role]
In 28 minutes off of the bench on Monday night, Waiters tallied 20 points (9-of-16 shooting), two rebounds and two steals while leading the team in point differential. There had been rumors of second-round rookie Joe Harris stepping in to the starting role, allowing Marion to move back to the bench and effectively leap-frogging Waiters. Harris shot 1-of-5 for just three points in 24 minutes on the floor.
While the team would love for Waiters to focus on his catch-and-shoot effectiveness, the shooting guard continues to attempt creating shots for himself with more than one-third of his shot attempts being pull-up jumpers. Thankfully, for Waiters, these shots have been his most successful on the season, providing a 46.9 eFG%, and he’s been well above NBA average when it comes to corner three-pointers.
7 Comments
Someone told Dion he could win an award as a sixth man and now he’s okay coming off the bench. Either that or he heard Corey Brewer might interest David Blatt.
I would like to see Brewer on the roster.
He could raise our defense from atrocious to not-so-good.
He sure wouldn’t hurt that’s for sure. It would also push Mike Miller back in the rotation which is another win. I’m still going to hold out hope for another big man (Brendan Haywood’s contract I’m looking at you) down the stretch but we’ll see what happens.
flashbacks of Larry Hughes while reading this
Speaking of Dion…
http://larrybrownsports.com/basketball/lebron-james-reaction-dion-waiters-missed-shot-priceless/247671
Professional athletes , by nature, have egos so much bigger than mine that I can not even pretend to comprehend where they come from mentally. However…
It would seem, to me, being 6th man (or even 2nd place) is better than being a slightly above average starter in terms of recognition.
Dion Waiters is LeBron’s new Mario Chalmers