Whether you're depressed or thrilled about the Cavaliers draft, I have some homework for you (for the record, I fall somewhere in the middle, leaning towards thrilled). I'm not afraid to admit that we weren't ready for the Cavaliers to draft Dion Waiters or Tyler Zeller. As far as I was concerned, they were not in our range at all. So for that, I apologize for not preparing you guys. We covered Harrison Barnes, Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, and Bradley Beal at length, but never talked about these two guys. Now, we have some catching up to do. Below are a bunch of articles, links, and videos that will help you get acquainted with the newest members of the Cleveland Cavaliers.
First off, you must read Brian Windhorst's summary of the Cavaliers draft night. Windy was with the Cavs as they made their decisions and it should make you a lot more confident about the selections. The Cavaliers were ecstatic to get these two players -- we should be too.
Waiters' basic statistics didn't seem all that impressive for a player under such consideration: 12.8 points a game off the bench, a couple rebounds and a couple assists. But the more advanced stats the Cavs looked at impressed them further. He shot a high percentage on the kinds of shots they felt he'd take in the pros and they liked his numbers scoring out of the pick-and-roll.
So even as Waiters' name stayed out of the mainstream news, as the days passed he was in the Cavs' internal headlines. Coach Byron Scott had fallen in love with Waiters' ability after watching plenty of film. As far as Scott was concerned, getting the 6-foot-4 shooting guard would be hitting a jackpot.
Next, you have to read this article from Dime Magazine detailing Dion Waiters' experience at Syracuse. He went through a lot, matured a ton, and enters the league with something to prove.
"I’m coming for whoever’s got the No. 1 spot," Waiters told me later. "I don’t just want to say I made it to the NBA. I want to be an All-Star, I want to win championships, I want to win defensive awards, MVP – I want to win every award possible.
Also, you've gotta check out how SBNation broke down our reaction to the draft. It's pretty hilarious how we went through the 5 stages of grief and how quickly it happened.
Needless to say, this was a surprise to Cleveland fans. Let's take you inside the five stages of grief that the fans who frequented the draft threads on SB Nation's Cavaliers blog Fear The Sword went through on Thursday night.
Next, we move on to some videos. Of course, you've got to check out DraftExpress.com's scouting report video on both Dion Waiters and Tyler Zeller.
Waiters:
Zeller:
Those videos should give you a pretty good idea of what we're getting as far as strengths and weaknesses go. If you want more highlight videos, you should watch these.