The OFFICIAL Rookie impressions thread

[Blkbrd671]

I know it's just 10 games and that I have been one of waiters supporters, But the guy looks like sh*t right now. He is glued to the 3 point line all game, It seems like he does not even care about playing in the offense anymore... All in all it's not looking too good for the Cavalier FO, If Dion does not pan out Grant and Scott will be fired....

End of rant

i actually like Waiters, he looks like he'll be everything Stuckey was suppose to be but isn't. However , i still don't understand how you don't go with Barnes? Problem is both Waiters and Irving need the ball in their hands to be peak effective.

[ComboGuardCity]

Drummond doing very well on KG. 3 straight times he shut him down in the post.

[JungleCat022]

I know it's just 10 games and that I have been one of waiters supporters, But the guy looks like sh*t right now. He is glued to the 3 point line all game, It seems like he does not even care about playing in the offense anymore... All in all it's not looking too good for the Cavalier FO, If Dion does not pan out Grant and Scott will be fired....

End of rant

I agree he does need to go away from the 3 pointers, but he's been shooting decently so far. My issue is his finishing at the rim, he can get wherever he wants on the floor but he has struggled finished his layups.

[Cro_Ruption]

another solid game from lillard.

[Blazing_royale]

@

3-16 last game
4-16 today

5-16 next game

Most of the layups he missed should have been fouls, like the last play when kaman slugged him in the face. He started attacking when he realized his jumper wasn't falling. He'll get better *Shrug

He finished the game with 16 points, 4 rebounds, 3 asts, 2 stls.

2-13 waiters

next game 5-16

[Roger Murdock]

I know it's just 10 games and that I have been one of waiters supporters, But the guy looks like sh*t right now. He is glued to the 3 point line all game, It seems like he does not even care about playing in the offense anymore... All in all it's not looking too good for the Cavalier FO, If Dion does not pan out Grant and Scott will be fired....

End of rant

i actually like Waiters, he looks like he'll be everything Stuckey was suppose to be but isn't. However , i still don't understand how you don't go with Barnes? Problem is both Waiters and Irving need the ball in their hands to be peak effective.

The thing the Cavs needed the most was someone else who can dribble, slash, pass, and score, besides Irving. The last thing they needed was someone to shoot mid range jumpers.

[NaturalThunder]

It's crazy to think that Gilchrist is most probably the best defender in a draft involving Davis...

not really. MKG was more physically ready to defend his position. davis is still a 220 lb PF, who's also playing some C.

also, check these numbers out.

overall PPP against- .94
FG% against- 44%
%scored against- 40.9%


overall PPP against- .85
FG% against- 35.4%
%scored against- 37.2%

one of them is MKG. the other is ....harrison barnes
it's early, but im just saying.

I watched 90% of Barnes' games in college and knew he had good defensive potential; and at times he'd lockdown on defense and look like a stud. However, his defensive effort was pretty inconsistent so I didn't know how that part of his game was going to translate to the NBA.

I've watched 6 or 7 Warriors games this year, and even when he wasn't doing much on offense, he was still playing really good defense (for a rookie). If he builds on that level of defensive play and improves on it as his career progresses, then the Luol Deng comparisons may actually end up being pretty accurate. I thought no-way he'll ever be as good of a defender as Deng, but right now he's showing me he has that potential while also being an 18-20 PPG scorer.

[JunkYardSubs]

Lamb has looked bad in limited minutes, hope he can be moved to a team willing to let him grow.

[KennyDuwayne]

It's crazy to think that Gilchrist is most probably the best defender in a draft involving Davis...

Drummond is actually looking like the best and most impactful defender

Valanciunas would have had a word with you two....if it wasn't for Bargnani making him look bad defensively.

Damian Lillard says "Hi"



































"Have you met my friend Michael Kidd Gilchrist?"

[Jon1798]

I know it's just 10 games and that I have been one of waiters supporters, But the guy looks like sh*t right now. He is glued to the 3 point line all game, It seems like he does not even care about playing in the offense anymore... All in all it's not looking too good for the Cavalier FO, If Dion does not pan out Grant and Scott will be fired....

End of rant

i actually like Waiters, he looks like he'll be everything Stuckey was suppose to be but isn't. However , i still don't understand how you don't go with Barnes? Problem is both Waiters and Irving need the ball in their hands to be peak effective.

That's really been my deal from the beginning. I get tired of the, "he's a bust", "oh wait, he's great", "oh wait, he's a bust."

Waiters is a fine player. My issue with the pick was the team that took him. IMO, the Cavs have one of the very very premier point guards in the league. Bonafide superstar. I do not for the life of me understand picking a ball dominant slasher, shooter. Harrison Barnes is sitting there, a guy that can hit the mid range shot. He's great at moving without the basketball, curling off of screens. He's a good wing defender. And from day one he just struck me as a guy that could match up with some of the best SF's in the league(excluding Lebron and Durant of course).

A team like the Hornets without a stud PG needs an Eric Gordon type of ball dominant SG. A team like the Cavs with one of the best PG's in the league? Just plug in a guy that can hit the three and play defense and you're sitting pretty.

[Roger Murdock]

Nobody who watched the Cavs last year could possibly say they don't need another player who can create offense. The Cavs problem last year was that everyone watched Irving do his thing and nobody else could do anything with the ball, Barnes would make that problem worse, not better.

If the Cavs screwed up passing on anyone it was Lilliard or Drummond, sure as hell not Harrison Barnes.

[j_angel]

Another solid game for Sullinger, the one bright spot in a poor game for Boston in Detroit.
16 points (7/12), 5 boards in 27 mins.

So far averaging: 5.0 ppg, 4.2 boards in just under 18mins per game. (over 50% FG and only 0.5 TO per game also).
Per 36 stats are very close to averaging a double double.

Be interesting to see if he can improve further this year.

[Little Digger]

Nobody who watched the Cavs last year could possibly say they don't need another player who can create offense. The Cavs problem last year was that everyone watched Irving do his thing and nobody else could do anything with the ball, Barnes would make that problem worse, not better.

If the Cavs screwed up passing on anyone it was Lilliard or Drummond, sure as hell not Harrison Barnes.

Clearly you havnt been following Harrison's progress with GSW. He's been killing people off the dribble of late..Love how he can go right or left with ease.

[JV4MVP]

It's crazy to think that Gilchrist is most probably the best defender in a draft involving Davis...

Drummond is actually looking like the best and most impactful defender

Valanciunas would have had a word with you two....if it wasn't for Bargnani making him look bad defensively.

Idk, JV needs more bulk to prevent guys from easily backing him down in the post. It also doesn't help that he's getting no respect from the refs. He's only 20 so its okay.

Also noticed that you posted about Ross. Well even Casey aside, Ross hasn't shown much of anything. Maybe there's a reason why he averages 11 minutes per game, and he usually only plays 5 in close games, 15+ in blowouts. He really doesn't deserve to be in the good defender discussion whatsoever. If he was good, he would play... why else is "Mr. Defense" Casey starting McGuire out there?

[ManualRam]

Nobody who watched the Cavs last year could possibly say they don't need another player who can create offense. The Cavs problem last year was that everyone watched Irving do his thing and nobody else could do anything with the ball, Barnes would make that problem worse, not better.

If the Cavs screwed up passing on anyone it was Lilliard or Drummond, sure as hell not Harrison Barnes.

Clearly you havnt been following Harrison's progress with GSW. He's been killing people off the dribble of late..Love how he can go right or left with ease.

i'd like to see some footage of this, especially him with a left hand drive. not a drive off of a catch or curl, i want to see some footage of him catching the ball, facing his man up and beating him off the dribble using his left..

[BIG FURB]

Nobody who watched the Cavs last year could possibly say they don't need another player who can create offense. The Cavs problem last year was that everyone watched Irving do his thing and nobody else could do anything with the ball, Barnes would make that problem worse, not better.

If the Cavs screwed up passing on anyone it was Lilliard or Drummond, sure as hell not Harrison Barnes.

Clearly you havnt been following Harrison's progress with GSW. He's been killing people off the dribble of late..Love how he can go right or left with ease.

i'd like to see some footage of this, especially him with a left hand drive. not a drive off of a catch or curl, i want to see some footage of him catching the ball, facing his man up and beating him off the dribble using his left..

You could just watch a few warrior games, there's one on tonight. And people, don't argue with Murdock concerning Barnes. He's been down on the kid for a while now. If he can't take the time out to watch Barnes play in actual nba games and see what type of pro player he actually is, you debating with him isn't likely to change his mind

[boogie-reke]

not to mention terrific defense

I don't see it.

I think he's actually looking lost quite often defensively, and quite a few baskets are directly on him.

Not writing him off at all obviously, he's a rookie big and as such those are common mistakes to make and he showed when he knows where to be etc he's an absolute force - not to mention his weight that's keeping him from staying balanced through contact and making him pushed under the rim more often.

But he is not playing anything close to terrific defense yet, and i've watched 80% of his games so far - especially in PNR situations when he hedges too much and doesn't return in time, or when he roams too much out of his position and giving open jumpers - but also in the post where again he's pushing under the rim far too easily giving a high % shot.

Just saw I didn't even mention who I talked about so that might have been confusing, ment this in regard to Anthony Davis.

[Kabookalu]

Idk, JV needs more bulk to prevent guys from easily backing him down in the post. It also doesn't help that he's getting no respect from the refs. He's only 20 so its okay.

Also noticed that you posted about Ross. Well even Casey aside, Ross hasn't shown much of anything. Maybe there's a reason why he averages 11 minutes per game, and he usually only plays 5 in close games, 15+ in blowouts. He really doesn't deserve to be in the good defender discussion whatsoever. If he was good, he would play... why else is "Mr. Defense" Casey starting McGuire out there?

He's not doing the best of jobs preventing players from backing him down, but in terms of rotating over to the weak side and helping out on the ball or off the ball he's been great.

I've seen Ross play some great man and help defense. He's terrific at this point. The reason why he isn't getting playing time is probably not because of anything he lacks defensively. Casey is a guy that likes seasoned players that have had a lick around the league it seems as it's not just Ross that's suffering from a lack of playing time, but all of our recent draft picks cutting off from DeMar.

[BScoreez]

Nobody who watched the Cavs last year could possibly say they don't need another player who can create offense. The Cavs problem last year was that everyone watched Irving do his thing and nobody else could do anything with the ball, Barnes would make that problem worse, not better.

If the Cavs screwed up passing on anyone it was Lilliard or Drummond, sure as hell not Harrison Barnes.

Clearly you havnt been following Harrison's progress with GSW. He's been killing people off the dribble of late..Love how he can go right or left with ease.

i'd like to see some footage of this, especially him with a left hand drive. not a drive off of a catch or curl, i want to see some footage of him catching the ball, facing his man up and beating him off the dribble using his left..

I didn't get a chance to watch the Thunder game, but in the prior game vs the Wolves Barnes isolated against and beat AK47 multiple times. He has played some point forward at times recently.

[EvanZ]

Nobody who watched the Cavs last year could possibly say they don't need another player who can create offense. The Cavs problem last year was that everyone watched Irving do his thing and nobody else could do anything with the ball, Barnes would make that problem worse, not better.

If the Cavs screwed up passing on anyone it was Lilliard or Drummond, sure as hell not Harrison Barnes.

Clearly you havnt been following Harrison's progress with GSW. He's been killing people off the dribble of late..Love how he can go right or left with ease.

i'd like to see some footage of this, especially him with a left hand drive. not a drive off of a catch or curl, i want to see some footage of him catching the ball, facing his man up and beating him off the dribble using his left..

I never seem to be able to get these to work, but here's a link to that play mentioned above.

[youtube]http://youtu.be/x_5w6B9OI9c?hd=1&t=3m46s[/youtube]