The OFFICIAL Rookie impressions thread

[GhostsOfGil]

Wow 7-11 from 3?! Great game by Waiters last night. Cleveland is looking very good right now.

[sir G Wallace]

Damian Lillard had a bad shooting night last night but he still maintained his composure even though the Dallas pressured him like he was Kobe on the perimeter. Only ended up with 1 Turnover and 5 Assists (A lot of other good passes too but scrubs didnt hit shots).

The shots he missed were wide open a lot of the times so I wouldnt say it was a bad game as much as it was an off game.

[JoeyH]

I hate when people say "if his teammates would have made shots he would have had like 5 more assists!" You can say that for most points guards in the league.

[Johnlac1]

Waiters was a reach, that doesn't mean he can't show it was a good pick after all.

Sorry but this is just terrible logic. If you have a chance to draft the best player available, you grab him. If Kobe Bryant is available at the fourth pick (not comparing him to Waiters, just using an example) and you know he'll be a great player, you don't take a risk and try to trade down to pick him at 10 even though he is projected at around there. If you have a chance to grab the best player you take him and don't screw around, especially since you have no idea what the other GMs are planning behind you.

Disrespect is something that seems to happen with every Cavs rookie for some reason. Even Lebron James was written off the first couple of seasons on this forum (there were 100+ post threads that Andrei Kirilenko would have a better career than James on realgm). No one was criticizing the Robinson, Beal, MKG or Barnes picks, but none of those guys have showed much and there is a good chance a couple of them will be busts. Meanwhile the one guy that is killing it immediately in the league was rejected as a bust and reach. It just shows how much the casual fans know.

I guess you didn't see MKG's last game. I'd still pick him over everybody else except Davis. He' s still the second-best all-around player in the draft...after Davis.

[Cro_Ruption]

Damian Lillard had a bad shooting night last night but he still maintained his composure even though the Dallas pressured him like he was Kobe on the perimeter. Only ended up with 1 Turnover and 5 Assists (A lot of other good passes too but scrubs didnt hit shots).

The shots he missed were wide open a lot of the times so I wouldnt say it was a bad game as much as it was an off game.

yah the Dallas defense really made him a focal point of their defense.

[DeBlazerRiddem]

I hate when people say "if his teammates would have made shots he would have had like 5 more assists!" You can say that for most points guards in the league.

+1.


Even CP3 has games where his teammates don't hit the right shots to boost his assist numbers. Yet we don't talk about him being a better passer than what his assists show, because every other PG faces that same situation.

I would like to say, it is one thing to point out that Lillard was passing the ball and not being a ball hog, and another to say he should have had more assists because players didn't hit the right shots. Some players post low assist games because they don't pass, others have low assist games because of a bad shooting night from the team. Ultimately it evens itself out in the games where teammates hit everything passed to them.

I kept yelling for Lillard to take more shots. He is still very concerned for making sure the offense is well balanced and everyone gets their touches, which is great because it shows maturity and selflessness, but he needs to be that guy to pull the Blazers out of a funk - even when he is in one himself. Again, you cannot criticize that point too much, that is something you criticize a 3rd year player about, not a rookie in his 4th game... but, food for thought.

[whocurrz]

Waiters was not a reach at 4 if that's who the Cavs liked most. Jerry West really wanted Waiters and was even exploring trading up to get him. He also wanted Lillard really badly.

As Evanz said earlier GSW rookie Harrison Barnes has played smart basketball and been judicious with his shot selection so far. He has also shown an ability to get to the rim and some quick go to post moves. If his shot selection remains good and he improves his defense he can be very good with some of the skills he has that should continue to improve.

[ohiorulez]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=udzJTQs5j70#![/youtube]
For those who missed it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=udzJTQs5j70#!
Dion Waiters 28 points

[LeChosen1]

If Barnes can start hitting his shots, and hustling for more boards my predicition wont look completely foolish

[Kabookalu]

I'm still ticked off we lost Harrison Barnes to a stupid coin toss

[Bskey]

About Waiters being a reach, he was. Hindsight can make it look better but at the time of the draft it was considered a pretty big reach. I don't know how this is hating on the Cavs or Waiters, if anything they deserve credit for making the pick and he deserves credit for proving he was worth it. If you guys want to take that as hate and ridicule go ahead, I can't make that decision for you.

Remember when OKC drafted Westbrook, how about Harden? Both were considered to be drafted too high at the time.

Most people, including a lot of Cavs fans hated the Waiters pick, or are our memories that short here?

[TheOUTLAW]

The problem is that absolutely nobody knows whether it was a reach or not. It's not a reach if someone was going to pick him at 5 not to mention you and nobody on here has access to what the scouts are looking at. So you can say it was a reach, but I'd argue that you have no idea what you are talking about.

[DeBlazerRiddem]

The problem is that absolutely nobody knows whether it was a reach or not. It's not a reach if someone was going to pick him at 5 not to mention you and nobody on here has access to what the scouts are looking at. So you can say it was a reach, but I'd argue that you have no idea what you are talking about.

Then how could you ever say someone was a reach?

[Bskey]

The problem is that absolutely nobody knows whether it was a reach or not. It's not a reach if someone was going to pick him at 5 not to mention you and nobody on here has access to what the scouts are looking at. So you can say it was a reach, but I'd argue that you have no idea what you are talking about.

No more so than anyone else here, no. In hindsight it's looking like a good pick, meaning it more than likely was. That doesn't change the perception that was present at the time of the draft. Some of you are associating a "reach" with being a bad thing. Clearly it can be a very good thing, that's why the reach is made in the first place.

Arguing over whether it was actually a reach or not is pointless, because you could make that same argument for every draft pick ever made. None of us work in their offices. Perception at the time says it was a reach which is how it's defined. It's irrelevant to whether Dion is going to be a good player or not though. It's not an insult to say it was a reach, credit to the Cavs for making the pick.

Someone may have picked him at 5, they may not have. The top picks in this draft worked out quite a bit differently than most people were expecting in mocks. Smokescreens are a big part of the draft, we don't know what would have happened at 5 had the Cavs taken Barnes for instance.

People did not expect Waiters to go that high, and most did not consider him a top 5 talent evident per mocks. That's why it was a reach. The Cavs obviously saw something they liked in him, that's why they made the reach. It doesn't become something else because of hindsight.

People said the same about Damian Lillard, that doesn't mean it was a bad pick. The best option for the Cavs to get him was their pick, so they bit. Doesn't mean he wasn't drafted much higher than expected, hence a reach.

Good scouts exist, but with how often teams are wrong about players, both good and bad, people need to stop acting like NBA scouts are infallible. It's an absurd notion to think so.

[TwentyOne920]

The reason people called Waiters a reach was that 1. he was a sixth man in college (although Boeheim left him on the floor in crunch time) and 2. he's from Syracuse. Remember the last guy from Syracuse to go 4th?

[orangeparka]

LOL at all the people saying Waiters was a reach.

This is why you gotta let them play games. People also need to stop acting like they know more than GMs/scouts.

Waiters was a reach, that doesn't mean he can't show it was a good pick after all.

And come on, are we going to pretend scouts/GMs don't get a ton of picks wrong every single year? You don't have to get paid to make evaluations, as always it is ultimately up to the player to prove their worth. If scouts and GMs were as good as you think at their job we wouldn't have constant top 10 busts and late 1st to 2nd round surprises.

Yeah, there's no such thing as a perfectscout, but they know TONS more than the average fan does.

It's just obnoxious to think that you might know better, yknow?

And if you WERE right about something, it's just luck. "Oh I always knew Drummond would beast", no. You just watched him and liked him and he happened to turn out good.

[Bskey]

LOL at all the people saying Waiters was a reach.

This is why you gotta let them play games. People also need to stop acting like they know more than GMs/scouts.

Waiters was a reach, that doesn't mean he can't show it was a good pick after all.

And come on, are we going to pretend scouts/GMs don't get a ton of picks wrong every single year? You don't have to get paid to make evaluations, as always it is ultimately up to the player to prove their worth. If scouts and GMs were as good as you think at their job we wouldn't have constant top 10 busts and late 1st to 2nd round surprises.

Yeah, there's no such thing as a perfectscout, but they know TONS more than the average fan does.

It's just obnoxious to think that you might know better, yknow?

And if you WERE right about something, it's just luck. "Oh I always knew Drummond would beast", no. You just watched him and liked him and he happened to turn out good.

Yet you assume to know a lot about me.

Edit: Anyway I'm finished with this topic, I'll keep it to the players themselves.

[detroitKG]

Some Andre the Giant Highlights:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wVh99O3Kc48&feature=g-u-u[/youtube]

and

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ZAAjQyA7S0&feature=g-u-u[/youtube]

[Inevitable]

Jonas V finishes with 18/6. Career high but most of it in garbage minutes.

[dballislife]

perry jones is very awkward and scuured out there