Cleveland Cavaliers: Dion Waiters, Flotation Device
By Joshua Howe
To some people’s surprise (like my own), Dion Waiters has been extremely adaptable to the wishes of David Blatt and the rest of the Cleveland Cavaliers. He’s said that he has no problem being a part of the bench mob if it helps his team rack up wins.
But fans shouldn’t be the only ones who are thankful Waiters pulled up his big-boy pants and took on the role with an admirable level of gravitas. His teammates should really be the ones giving him a salute.
The Big Three all reside in the top five minutes played category right now. LeBron James leads the entire league at 39.1, Kyrie Irving is fourth at 38.4 and Kevin Love lands at fifth at 37.0. This has caused James to come out publicly and say, again, that he thinks he, as well as his All-Star teammates, need a minutes reduction.
As quoted on NBA.com, James told reporters that, “For me, I don’t want to do that all year.”
Of course not. We’ve been hearing since the beginning of training camp that James wants and needs more rest as he crawls towards the age of 30. But as we’ve seen, Blatt isn’t playing the Big 3 heavy minutes because he enjoys the thought of them breaking down, but because he has to.
These aren’t the San Antonio Spurs, where Gregg Popovich has the luxury of resting players at a whim because the rest of his team is as deep as the Grand Canyon.
Out of the nine games the Cavs have played, four of them have been decided by six points or less. Seven have been decided by 10 points or less.
When you have a Big Three that can get you 10 points in the blink of an eye, of course you’re going to keep playing them. There’s always that hope for a win. And Blatt’s not about losing.
To the same reporters mentioned earlier, Blatt said, “So this is not the time to be thinking about resting him [James]. He’s feeling good, this is the time to allow him to feel comfortable and get into his rhythm.”
That’s true as well. But let’s consider for a moment what happens if he does rest the Big 3 more often.
James is by far the best defender on the team, and on a club that lacks in that department, it’s hard to keep him off the court. I’d get sick of watching opponents blow by my perimeter defense too.
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As for Kyrie? His backup, Matthew Dellavadova, is out right now with an injury. So that already limits Blatt’s options in resting him, especially when the primary ball handler other than Irving is James himself.
Love would be the easiest to rest out of the three, since the interior defense can’t get any worse while he sits and he has a serviceable replacement in Tristan Thompson. But Thompson can’t provide anything within the stratosphere of what Love does on offense.
So blame Blatt all you want. It’s not easy to rest three of the best players in the game when the remainder of your team relies so heavily on them to produce.
Enter Dion Waiters. Puppeteer. Lead man. Han Solo in a wine and gold Millennium Falcon.
This is what the Cavs need more of. A player who will willingly come off the bench, and who (although a poor defender) can provide something of value, in this case an instant scoring punch. The Cavs just don’t have any other bench guys that can do what Waiters does.
Everyone is either old or shooting an ugly, leaning-floater in the lane (I’m looking at you, Tristan Thompson).
The only way the starters (Big Three in particular) can be expected to get more rest is if their supporting cast can keep the ship afloat while they take a breather. So far, this hasn’t been the case, with Blatt doing his utmost to keep at least one of the Big 3 on the floor with whatever lineup he chooses to go with.
But even if the team could handle having one of the Big 3 on the floor and allowing for quick alternations, this wouldn’t necessarily be such a bad thing. It’s just that, at some point, Blatt must always put the trio back on the hardwood together to try and string something together.
Waiters is the sole flotation device that the Cavaliers can cling to when it comes to these situations. He can get his own shot, put pressure on the defense and has had a pretty solid mid-range game going this season.
While not able to do much about the defensive issues, Waiters can at least do what he does best and score score score while his Big 3 brethren take a seat.
Dion has done a fairly good job to start this season, and I myself have been quite impressed with his offensive performance and willingness to adapt. But the fact that he is to be the saviour when the Big 3 hits the bench is concerning to say the least.
Waiters can be erratic and a heat-checker, while (again) providing nothing of value at the other end. What does it say about this Cavaliers team that they are looking to Waiters to steer the ship for portions of games?
Even when he’s at his best, Dion’s going to have a tough time keeping a close game close when the likes of the Big Three (and their insane combined offense) take to the pine. Sometimes in the greatness of overall achievement, we forget that Han Solo had Chewbacca.