SB Nation Cleveland: All Posts by Amin Vafahttps://cdn.vox-cdn.com/community_logos/48841/cleveland-fave.png2012-11-15T08:00:16-06:00https://cleveland.sbnation.com/authors/amin-vafa/rss2012-11-15T08:00:16-06:002012-11-15T08:00:16-06:00Waiters can fix Cavs' bench woes
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<figcaption>Jeff Hanisch-US PRESSWIRE</figcaption>
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<p>After the Cavs' six-game road trip, Dion Waiters has proven that he's starter-quality. However, the Cavs need his ball-handling and scoring off the bench more than they do in the starting lineup.</p> <blockquote>
<p class="p1">[Byron] Scott has stated that his intentions are to leave Waiters, a shooting guard who is actually very good at handling the ball, in the off-guard position as to not overwhelm him with responsibilities during his rookie season. His confidence, however, may lead Scott to amend his wishes, leaving Waiters on the floor for longer stretches as the season wears on. Irving’s ability to play off of the ball may be one of his biggest assets; Waiters’ ability to play with it may be exactly what the otherwise barren second unit needs to flourish.</p>
<p class="p1">-Scott Sargent, <a href="http://www.waitingfornextyear.com/2012/11/cavaliers-bench-issues-are-far-from-permanent/">"Cavaliers' bench issues are far from permanent"</a></p>
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<p>Hey did you catch that Cavs-<a href="https://www.netsdaily.com/" class="sbn-auto-link">Nets</a> game Tuesday? You didn't? Good. That's for the best. Even with <span>Kyrie Irving</span> and <span>Anderson Varejao</span> notching career highs in points, there was some ugly basketball happening. I mean, on this road trip, the Cavs starters (Irving, <span>Dion Waiters</span>, <span>Alonzo Gee</span>, <span>Tristan Thompson</span>, and Varejao) have been fantastic.</p>
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<p>During the Cavs 6-game road trip, starters shot 48% (174-363), 41.5% from deep (32-77), scored 468 of 603 points and had a collective +63.</p>
<p>— Eric Knappenberger (@CavsWITNESS) <a data-datetime="2012-11-14T13:34:36+00:00" href="https://twitter.com/CavsWITNESS/status/268708510882222080">November 14, 2012</a></p>
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<p>The <a href="https://www.fearthesword.com/" class="sbn-auto-link">Cavaliers</a> bench. They are--how do I put this?--not good. Bad. Gross. Inefficient. Ineffective. Parking cones.</p>
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<p>During the Cavs 6-game road trip, reserves shot 34% (50-145), 31% from deep (18-58), scored 135 of 603 points and had a collective -228.</p>
— Eric Knappenberger (@CavsWITNESS) <a data-datetime="2012-11-14T13:36:35+00:00" href="https://twitter.com/CavsWITNESS/status/268709010738397184">November 14, 2012</a>
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<p>About 10% of the season has passed, and for me, that's enough time to make some tweaks to the rotation. I'm not calling for anyone's head, and I'm not demanding any trades (yet), but I think it has become painfully evident that this team needs a shakeup to make sure that the bench doesn't completely derail any hopes of winning a game for the rest of the season. And the biggest tweak that I think needs to be made is Dion Waiters needs to come off the bench.</p>
<p>The quality of play on the bench is oddly reminiscent of what the entire team's play looked like immediately after LeBron left. Sure, there's not much you can do to make up for a player like LeBron, but his ability to create for others--whether it was by having defenses collapse on him or by just being a fantastic passer--was, to me, the biggest thing missing after he left. <span>Mo Williams</span> and <span>Daniel Gibson</span> were put in charge of ball-handling duties for the Cavs in 2010-11. While they've both been labeled "point guards" in their careers, I think anyone who has seen either of them play knows that they are more accurately described as "shooting guards who have to guard point guards because they are 6-2." Now, there's nothing wrong with that, either. Williams and Gibson are great shooters from multiple places on the floor, they can find an open man, and they can create for themselves. However, they play best when they're not the primary ball-handlers.</p>
<p>Fast forward to February 2011 when Mo Williams and <span>Jamario Moon</span> are traded to the <a href="https://www.clipsnation.com/" class="sbn-auto-link">Clippers</a> for <span>Baron Davis</span> and the pick that would become Kyrie Irving. As great as Irving has been, I think people forget how much Davis's existence on the roster helped that Cavs team gel again. They won games and looked like a semi-competent professional basketball team, and it's because they had someone who could create for everyone in charge of the ball.</p>
<p>Fast forward again to this season. Who's manning the ball-handling duties on the bench? Daniel Gibson and <span>Donald Sloan</span>. Sloan's not nearly as good a player as Mo Williams and Gibson is still Gibson (but a bit older). Neither is comfortable being the primary ball-handler, and as a result, neither can create for the other players on the bench. So the bench languishes and gets outscored 57,000 to 4.</p>
<p>Now, we know that Waiters is a good starter for this team and that he plays off Irving well as a co-distributor. We also know that he played the 6th man role in college, and he was good at it. In the NBA's most-recent seasons, the 6th man has again become a coveted and stigmaless role. Look at Ginobili, Harden, Odom, <span>Kevin Martin</span>, <span>Ray Allen</span>, <span>Jason Terry</span>. Did those guys see the 6th man role as relegation? No. And Waiters shouldn't either, <i>especially</i> since he has done nothing deserving of a "punishment." On the contrary, he has been playing better than most fans thought he would (and certainly better than all detractors thought he would). The Cavs have looked great allowing both him and Irving to play on-and-off the ball. That setup allows them both to control the floor spacing, to score, and to get the frontcourt involved. But there's no one who can do that on the bench.</p>
<p>If Waiters swapped slots in the rotation with Daniel Gibson, what would the team have? Gibson is a good shooter who can run up and down the floor and has drastically improved his on-ball and perimeter defense in the past two seasons. Pair him with Irving in the starting lineup and he may even be able to create for a few big men in the post while also probably defending shooting guards better than Waiters.</p>
<p>Then put Waiters in control of the bench unit. He can find cutters. He can find shooters. He can get to the basket himself. He can hit free throws. He can run on the break. And what's to keep him from playing in crunch time, too? Nothing. He should absolutely play in crunch time. What's the saying? "It's not who's on the floor at the beginning of games that matters. It's who's on the floor at the end of close games." Waiters is definitely the second best guard on the team, and this team needs to use him to the best of his ability while also using him to the best benefit of the team.</p>
<p><span style="line-height: 9px;">And </span>it's time to bring him off the bench.</p>
https://cleveland.sbnation.com/cleveland-cavaliers/2012/11/15/3642512/dion-waiters-cavs-roster-2012-cleveland-benchAmin Vafa2012-10-30T18:05:03-05:002012-10-30T18:05:03-05:00Wizards-Cavs on opening night? Yes please!
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<img alt="What a difference a few years makes" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/6B1oBO1UeCOxPEOs0y3E61fkRTk=/0x183:635x606/1310x873/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/2334475/20120303_tjg_au3_047.0.jpg" />
<figcaption>What a difference a few years makes | Brad Mills-US PRESSWIRE</figcaption>
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<p>Celtics-Heat? Mavs-Lakers? No, thank you. I'll take Wizards-Cavs.</p> <p> </p>
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<p>@<a href="https://twitter.com/aminvafanba">aminvafanba</a> "WITHIN AMIN'S SOUL, A CHAOS BREAKS OUT … WIZARDS? CAVS? FOR WHOM THE MAN ROOTS, THE ROOTS SPREAD THEE." /dancenumber</p>
— Aaron McGuire (@docrostov) <a href="https://twitter.com/docrostov/status/263386304388141056" data-datetime="2012-10-30T21:06:03+00:00">October 30, 2012</a>
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<p>Tonight signals the official start of the 2012-2013 NBA regular season. Not only is this day awesome because it means BASKETBALL IS BACK, it's awesome because of the slate of games tonight.</p>
<p>Four of the best and star-studded teams--the last four championship-wining teams--in the NBA are playing tonight. And do you know what I'm most excited to watch? The <a href="https://www.bulletsforever.com/" class="sbn-auto-link">Washington Wizards</a> playing in Cleveland against the <a href="https://www.fearthesword.com/" class="sbn-auto-link">Cavaliers</a>. Why would I be excited to watch these two teams? I mean, besides being a masochist?</p>
<p>Because they're <i>my</i> teams.</p>
<p>My family emigrated to Cleveland more than twenty years ago, and as soon as I was old enough to open a foil basketball card wrapper by myself, I got hooked on the Cavs. My cousins and I followed the Price-Daugherty-Nance years with a passion only rivaled by the passion that 7 year olds have for basically anything because COME ON WE WERE KIDS AND WE WERE EXCITED. The Cavs were good. So good, in fact, that their only kryptonite was Michael Jordan. He happened to be the kryptonite of pretty much everyone in the NBA in the early 90s, but still, the Cavs were damn good. I watched those Cavs teams, collected those Cavs cards, and wore those Cavs jerseys (even the one that was made for me out of an old t-shirt and puffy paint) because I LOVED that team.</p>
<p>Things changed in the mid-90s. The team got worse, then a little better, but it mostly just dabbled in mediocrity until the 1998 NBA Lockout pitted fans against the league. It was then I lost interest in the NBA (thanks Indians, for being there to pick up the pieces while also making me sad), and I didn't know that I'd ever be back.</p>
<p>A little over five years ago, I graduated from college in Virginia and moved to DC--like everyone else who graduates from college in Virginia. I had a job and roommates, but for the first time in as long as I could remember, I didn't have homework dominating my evenings. I had this massive empty timeslot in the evenings that <i>Jeopardy</i> could only usually manage to fill. A buddy of mine hit me up: "Hey, do you want to get tickets to the Wizards game on Wednesday?" "Sure, why not? Sounds like fun, and I used to love watching the Cavs growing up."</p>
<p>So that's when it started again. A few more Wizards games here. A few BS Reports there. And a whole lot of reading and trying to start our own pithy sports blog. Oh, and I watched A LOT of Cavs on TV. Remember when the Cavs used to be on TV all the time? The Wizards were my gateway drug back into the NBA, and they made me remember how much I loved watching the Cavs. The team helped me re-establish my roots in Cleveland, and it only made it that much more fun that it was around the same time the Wizards and Cavs had one of the most entertaining rivalries in sports. If you don't know what I'm talking about, then just google "Jay Z Soulja Boy," and you'll see what I mean.</p>
<p>So tonight, I'm going to watch this game from start to finish. I'll think about the rivalries past, and I'll definitely be thinking about the rivalries of the future. I can't tell you how excited I am about the Wall/Beal vs. Irving/Waiters backcourt matchup. I know we won't get to see it tonight, but I'll be there on December 26th to see them on the floor together.</p>
<p>And here we are today. Both teams are DRASTICALLY different than they were when I was growing up and even just five years ago. And I am a fan of both. Is that wrong? Is that sports-blasphemy, to root for two teams at once? Maybe, but I'm not really sure I care. The Cavs make me feel nostalgic and tied to a town that took me and my family in twenty-some years ago; the Wizards make me feel tied to a town that's been formative to my adult experience. The Cavs got me into basketball; the Wizards brought me back. I love them both, and nothing makes me happier than seeing them duke it out. I like to pretend they're fighting for my affection. Even when they're both disappointing me by being really terrible.</p>
https://cleveland.sbnation.com/2012/10/30/3577090/washington-wizards-cleveland-cavaliers-nba-opening-nightAmin Vafa2012-10-25T07:41:09-05:002012-10-25T07:41:09-05:00Thompson & Waiters: Cavs Draw the 4th Straw
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<p>The Cavs drafted fourth overall in the last two drafts, but many believe they over-reached on their selections. Can Thompson and Waiters prove the critics wrong, or does the team need to reassess its rebuild?</p> <p>In both 2011 and 2012, the poor play of the Cavs and the loyalty of their fans manifested itself in the fourth pick in both drafts. In the 2011 draft, the fourth selection was an afterthought because the Mo Williams-for-Baron Davis trade also netted the team the pick that would later become franchise point guard and reigning Rookie of the Year <span>Kyrie Irving</span>. That's not to say, however, that the fourth pick in 2011 was not vital to the rebuilding future of the team.</p>
<p>With that fourth pick in 2011, the Cavs drafted <span>Tristan Thompson</span> from the University of Texas. With the team needing to fill pretty much every position on the roster (except point guard, which it had filled three slots prior), there were many directions Cleveland could have taken with this pick, but most assumed <span>Jonas Valanciunas</span> would be selected (and probably drafted-and-stashed like he was in Toronto); ESPN NBA Draft Analyst <a href="http://%7B%7Bentrytitle%7D%7D/">Chad Ford projected</a> that Thompson would go 6th to the <a href="https://www.bulletsforever.com/">Washington Wizards</a>. With the selection of Thompson, Cleveland's strategy was viewed in one of two ways: he could either be an athletic frontcourt-mate for the quick-footed <span>Anderson Varejao</span>, or he was drafted to fill the void in the roster should the team ever decide to part with the aforementioned Brazilian. Thompson definitely was not the immediate offensive or defensive force the <a href="https://www.fearthesword.com/">Cavaliers</a> required, but his raw athleticism could not be ignored. After a successful stint in summer league--his first, since the lockout caused its cancellation last year--and promising preseason, Thompson's potential has become more and more evident, and he's already locked up the starting power forward position this season.</p>
<p>Cleveland's luck seemed to repeat itself (both good and bad luck) when they landed they fourth overall pick again for the 2012 draft. With <span>Anthony Davis</span> assuredly going to the <a href="http://www.sbnation.com/nba/teams/new-orleans-hornets">Hornets</a> at number 1, the next several selections were quite hazy. Each team needed someone who, frankly, could score some damn points. Naturally, Charlotte took <span>Michael Kidd-Gilchrist</span> (noted defender and glue guy--not a particularly voluminous scorer) at number 2, though for much of the lead-up to the draft, most assumed the <a href="http://www.sbnation.com/nba/teams/charlotte-bobcats">Bobcats</a> would draft Kansas's <span>Thomas Robinson</span>. The worst kept secret in the league was that <span>Bradley Beal</span> was pretty much a lock to go to Washington at number 3. So who was Cleveland going to pick? They had their sights set on <span>Harrison Barnes</span> last year--before he decided not to declare for the draft. <span>Terrence Ross</span>,<span> Austin Rivers</span>, <span>Jeremy Lamb</span>? The Cavs needed a wing player (they didn't have enough room for a big on the roster, and frankly if they drafted another one, it would send the signal that they had already given up on Thompson). Instead the Cavs picked <span>Dion Waiters</span> from Syracuse. Unbeknownst to most, the Cavs apparently had Waiters <a href="http://espn.go.com/nba/draft2012/story/_/id/8111377/2012-nba-draft-cleveland-cavaliers-scenes">very high on their draft board</a>, but the assumption was that they were going to draft a shooter on the wing to complement Irving and their bigs--someone like Barnes. As we all know now, Waiters was an undersized slasher 6th-man with a history of cockiness who refused workouts with every team (though somehow still managed to generate a mystique that had him <a href="http://espn.go.com/nba/draft2012/index">ranked 6th overall</a> by Chad Ford) and showed up to summer league with poor conditioning--hardly the impression on the surface Cleveland wanted to make at the 4th spot again.</p>
<p>In both 2011 and 2012 from the draft lottery through draft night, rumors circulated across the internet (and presumably into a few team offices) that the Cavs would be willing to trade these number 4 picks up or down to ease the burden of their draft selection. In each of these past two seasons, the 4th pick in the draft has been really difficult to make. Not just because Cleveland is a rebuilding team that needs to make the right selections to that it doesn't waste the prime of its franchise start. But it's because there are types of players Cleveland has needed, but these players haven't been available at the 4th spot. There have been plenty of players available, mind you, but the proper (talented) players to complement Kyrie Irving, while also making sure that the team wasn't overpaying talent even if it was drafting for need (instead of best available player), were difficult to spot. In back-to-back seasons, this Cavs front office has been tested: do you overpay a guy that you like but doesn't fit perfectly, trade down to get the guy you want but not get a good deal for him because you reek of desperation, or trade up and pay out your nose because you reek of desperation? In both years, Cleveland chose to stand pat and take the person they thought best fit (and presumably the person that was also best available) at number 4.</p>
<p>While the jury's still out on Thompson and Waiters, both players have a pretty high ceiling on this team. After all, in a conference with strong and athletic frontcourts, Thompson could prove to be invaluable. And really, the Cavs just don't have anyone (guard or otherwise) who can get to the basket and draw contact like Waiters.</p>
<p>It's hard to know just yet if the Cavs nailed both of these picks, but we do know that Cleveland's fans and management have shown patience in the past three seasons. It's also comforting to know that Cleveland's roster and salary cap are both flexible enough now that if they <i>have</i> made any mistakes, it's early enough in the process that no permanent damage has been done. With both of those facts in mind, it still does not change the fact that Thompson and Waiters are the litmus test of success for GM Chris Grant's rebuild of this roster in the post-LeBron years. The fans are itching for some winning basketball again, and these two number 4 picks are integral to that.</p>
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https://cleveland.sbnation.com/cleveland-cavaliers/2012/10/25/3545374/dion-waiters-tristan-thompson-cavaliers-2012-nba-preview-clevelandAmin Vafa2012-10-19T11:06:15-05:002012-10-19T11:06:15-05:00Waiters and Miles to start for the Cavs
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<figcaption>Jayne Kamin-Oncea-US PRESSWIRE</figcaption>
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<p>According to Bob Finnan of the News Herald, Dion Waiters and C.J Miles are projected to start at shooting guard and small forward for the Cavaliers to start the season.</p> <p>With opening night quickly approaching, the Cavs rotation is finally beginning to take shape. According to <a href="http://www.news-herald.com/articles/2012/10/19/sports/nh6118386.txt">Bob Finnan of the News Herald,</a> rookie <span>Dion Waiters</span> will be the starting shooting guard for the Wine and Gold. Cleveland's big free agent signing of the summer, <span>C.J. Miles</span>, is also projected to be the starting small forward, with <span>Kyrie Irving</span>, <span>Tristan Thompson</span>, and <span>Anderson Varejao</span> filling in at the other slots.</p>
<p>With <span>Anthony Parker</span> gone and <span>Omri Casspi</span> not panning out the way the team had hoped, the wing positions were in dire need of upgrade. Well, to be honest, the roster has had a massive abyss at small forward since LeBron left, and outside of <span>Delonte West</span>, I can't really recall a solid shooting guard on this team in, like, forever?</p>
<p>Waiters was drafted with the hopes of forming a dynamic and young backcourt duo with Irving, and so far it's hard to tell if that's going to be the case. Some have argued that Waiters would fit better on the Cavs roster in a James Harden-like role as 6th man; he could come off the bench and provide scoring and ball-handling, and those are two things the team needs off the bench. They also need scoring in the starting lineup, and if Waiters can provide that there, all the better.</p>
<p>Miles was recruited to replace that aforementioned abyss. He can only do so much, but as a shooter, he'll help space the floor well when Irving is running the offense. Starting Miles means bringing <span>Alonzo Gee</span> off the bench; frankly, you could do a lot worse than bringing a guy like Gee off the bench. And I'm pretty sure the Cavs did do a lot worse than that.</p>
<p>Oh, and it's 11 days and 7.5 hours til tipoff.</p>
<p>(H/T: <a href="http://www.waitingfornextyear.com/2012/10/report-cavs-to-start-dion-waiters-at-shooting-guard">Waiting for Next Year</a>)</p>
https://cleveland.sbnation.com/cleveland-cavaliers/2012/10/19/3525968/dion-waiters-c-j-miles-starters-cleveland-cavaliersAmin Vafa