Report: Cavs looking to Trade Dion Waiters
2013-11-27
Stop playing “buddy ball”
According to Chris Broussard, sources are indicating that Cavs are trying to find a trade partner for Dion Waiters. It seems like Waiters is on board with the idea. Can’t say I blame him.
http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/10046614/cleveland-cavaliers-shopping-dion-waiters
“Irving called the meeting after the game and every player spoke. When Waiters was given the floor, he criticized Thompson and Irving, accusing them of playing “buddy ball” and often refusing to pass to him. Thompson took umbrage with Waiters’ words and went back at him verbally. The two confronted each other but teammates intervened before it could escalate into a fight
However, the two guards are not close. Waiters believes the Cavaliers have a double standard when it comes to Irving, sources said. He feels that while Irving is allowed to get away with loafing defensively, making turnovers and taking bad shots, he is taken out of the game for such things. Waiters has shared his views with Brown and Grant.”
Dion is correct in the way Mike Brown plays favorites. He’s never been able to hold a superstar accountable. He couldn’t do it with LBJ playing defense. He couldn’t do it with Kobe ball-hogging. And he can’t do it with Kyrie ball-hogging AND not playing defense.
Personally, I think we should keep Dion and try to work through this. If any player needs to be traded, I think we should shop Irving.
Evan Turner is putting up stats because of the speed that Phillies offense goes. Shump is a average size decent D SG who can’t shoot or finish at the rim. We’ve all seen Kyrie freeze Dion out, it’s not really a secret. Delly had to be taken out because he’s a 6-3 undrafted rookie PG trying to play defense on D-Wade. We really missed CJ Miles this game. (Never thought I’d say that). Ball movement WAS better overall, But it really isn’t hard to improve on what we were doing before. If Dan Gilbert really wanted to become a team… Read more »
I’ve been critical of Waiters, but none of these trade possibilities excite me. I’ve got give him credit for playing an awesome game against Miami, too. Trading for Shumpert and Turner is moving sideways at best. Deng might help us get slightly better in the short term (if he’s not too banged up), but what’s the point of that? Not opposed to trading him if the right deal comes along, but not just to trade him. This team is not going anywhere this year anyways.
Play Bennett? Only in Canton. Putting him out there with the big boys just to fail won’t help anyone. Go get in shape in the D-League, Tony.
I love Dion, and I wouldn’t trade him for any of the mentioned trade possibilities
Just finished watching the Heat game, and I ask any doubters above: Was Dion not the most animated, aggressive, TALENTED player on the floor for the Cavs? Where did Kyrie go? I hear “Alpha Dog” mentioned often in the above posts….but don’t Alpha Dogs take on the opponents’ Alphas head on, bear their teeth and fight? Kyrie was relegated to overdribbling and pressing…not the traits of a true floor leader. I don’t know what Dion says off the court, but I am with him on it–if Dion’s not in this game, the team loses by 20… …but lose they would… Read more »
so what’s Marshon brooks doing these days?
Its not a coincidence that the Waiters rumors were announced by an ESPN guy (Broussard) just before the Cavs played in ESPN’s spotlight game – they needed a story. What Broussard reported is really only a mild tweak of a two-week old story, and doesn’t really add any new information to the situation. I am sure the Cavs have offered Dion in some trades, but 1) CG will not dump one of his top 5 picks for 10 cents on the dollar, and 2) most other teams likely value Dion less than CG does. So I just don’t see a… Read more »
I honestly just don’t know WHAT to say about this team anymore. That first quarter was a revelation, followed by a whole bunch of blah (except for Earl Clark! That was…um…interesting?)
What now?
Why would they ever trade Waiters? Best Cav tonight! Love the fight and the focus!
Dion is also my favorite Cav. I can’t put my finger on why though. Maybe it’s because he has an edge to him and Tristan and Kyrie don’t. Maybe it’s because he’s so disrespected in the national media (Thorpe didn’t put him in his top 20 sophomores?). Maybe it’s the flashes of All-Star caliber potential he’s shown. I don’t know. I’m firmly in the you don’t trade him just to do it side. I’d much rather them try to make it work. The off-ball movement problem has been brought up quite a bit. That should be their primary offensive focus… Read more »
Dion is absolutely correct . This is a TEAM no ‘I” in Irving all the time. Cavs have a serious problem here and ditching Waiters is Not the answer. They need to fix this now on passing the ball more and that includes him. No more stupid Irving against 5 guys while everyone else just stands around.
Dion’s my favorite Cavs player and I’m glad he spoke up, if it’s true. I hope things get turned around and he sticks instead of getting traded. I would not want Shumpert. Deng’s deal is expiring I believe so he’s just a stop gap. Turner is a 10 mil player who isn’t really worth 10 mil. Call GS and ask about Barnes if you really want to talk trades. Barnes has been relegated to the bench and doesn’t play well without a distributor. He has regressed since going to the bench. If he comes to Cleveland he goes back to… Read more »
And again, why didn’t they draft Oladipo?
Dion for Evan Turner, I’d do that every day of the week.
The cavs are a disaster, it would be a shame if they ended up making the 8th seed in the playoffs and losing to the heat.
Kyrie at his worst is just dion who takes more shots. I don’t understand why no one complains when kyrie takes fall away step back jumpers after dribbling for 15 seconds. I would like to see tt getting more than 2 set plays a game for him on offense.
Let’s be real, when kyrie goes 15-33 for 38 points it’s not tht great when lebron can score 38 points on 16 shots
Kyrie is a superstar,, hes not inside the top 10 ESPN rankings for no reason, he can be our “alpha dog” the man can do things with the ball that no one else can in the NBA. Mike Brown, yes struggles on the offensive side of the ball, but selfish play on the court he cannot control. He s a defensive specialist but when your team just wants me me me it shard to win anything. Dion needs to go he has not improved at all, his shooting percentage is worse and he needs the ball in his hands to… Read more »
Slow your roll, folks. This will be a good thing. Now that the dirty laundry has been aired, the team can move past it. As Windy said, the team can’t trade any of these guys till it gets better anyway. I wouldn’t be surprised if someone from the team leaked this story just to clear the air and motivate everyone. The Cavs are the youngest team in the league. They can learn and get better.
Mike makes a good point.
Kyrie isn’t being a good leader here.
But life isn’t fair. Kyrie is a top 10 player in this league on his best days.
Waiters isn’t.
But this just makes the Cavs seem like a dysfunctional mess on the day that ESPN is shining a spotlight on the team. Not a great scenario…
Bryan – maybe so but I was referring to being relegated to the bench (losing his starter status).
It’s a wrap man… this team is a train wreck. Wasted two top 5 picks essentially (unless Bennett gets it together). SMH
This franchise is going down the tubes. Cannot wait for decision 2.0. Bye bye Kyrie!
Tom, when Kyrie made bad decisions, Scott would bench him. That’s not true with Brown, that’s the big difference.
Dion definitely has a point, but so what? Life isn’t always fair. Besides, at his worst Kyrie I still a much more efficient offensive player than Dion. Do I like his mood swings and blinders in crunch time Of course not. But not all NBA players are created equal. I’m sure the Knicks would like Carmelo to play more defense, but you still don’t bench him because you still need him on the court to win. This is part of life. The best in any career gets some level of preferential treatment.
Are any of the things that Dion brought up untrue? I might be going out on a limb here, but I don’t think the Cavs will go anywhere with Kyrie as our alpha dog. He coast on his talent at times, seems to be more interested in making commercials than playing solid team basketball, and above all else, is a bit of a ball hog.
We, as a fan base, may choose to ignore his warts to goad him into staying, but let’s be realistic here: If you were in Kyrie’s shoes, why would you stay?
@Bryan – Mike Brown isn’t the guy not passing Dion the ball. Also, Byron Scott pulled the same double-standard shenanigans. Maybe it’s just pervasive in NBA culture I don’t know.
When do we start blaming Mike Brown for the Obamacare Rollout?
Dion is absolutely correct in his analysis of Mike Brown and playing favorites. That might have worked for him with LBJ, but Kyrie is no LBJ. This whole team has regressed significantly this year, and its not the loss of Livingston or the swapping of Clark for Gee in the starting lineup that is at fault, it’s the coach. Brown’s offense has always been depressing, but when LBJ was in town you could always isolate him to score points, the guy is nearly the best ever to put on a jersey in the NBA. You can’t do that with Kyrie… Read more »
Shump stinks. Recently the first player in like 5 years to be in a game 20+ minutes and notch no points, rebounds, or assists. Gotta say, Dion’s right on this. The Cavs absolutely have a double standard when it comes to Kyrie, and it makes no sense. My solution: make Dion team captain. Was talking to a career school bus driver last week, and he said he always put the troublemakers in charge of making sure everyone behaved. I think that could work here. Kyrie obviously isn’t a leader. It looks like the Cavs are doing the same coddling with… Read more »
Supposedly it looks like Deng is going to be the missing piece that turns us into a perpetual mid-90s Cavs 40 win team. Oh joy.
please! waiters for shump please please