You’re Steve Buscemi If James Gandolfini Is Gone, Dion

Similar enough, right?

Imagine if midway through the Sorpanos series, James Gandolfini (Tony Soprano, the big boss) developed a cocaine problem and the new comer to the series Steve Buscemi (Cousin Tony, the man who took a jail stint and is recently released) had to become the lead actor/mob boss because James Gandolfini has to take a leave from work and the writers concoct some crazy story line for new Tony to take over the family.  What would happen?  Steve Buscemi is a great actor and cousin Tony is a competent gangster, although neither is accustomed to really be in their new situations.  Dion Waiters is now playing Steve Buscemi as mob boss/ lead actor on the Cavs team without Kyrie Irving.

So, will Waiters turn the show away from its lead actor (Irving) or will he realize this is a temporary situation?  Will Waiters try to swing the other actors’ favor by letting them have new roles (Will he let Alonzo Gee constantly drive and get blocked?).  Will Waiters use this time to hone his actual acting and leadership abilities? 

I think he is going to learn a few things with Irving out of the picture.  First, he is going to have to drive to the basket more often to get the space he needs for shooting.  Defenders play relatively relaxed on him because of the need to often rotate on defense when Kyrie runs pick and rolls.  Waiters sometimes gets the shot off when his defender isn’t up in his face, and this is not going to be the case anymore. 

Waiters is also going to need to figure out how to incorporate Varejao and T. Thompson.  Both of these players get a lot of garbage buckets under the rim, which gives them confidence and the drive to play harder for the team.  Dion is going to have to drop off passes when he gets underneath, so he can give the beasts below some food.  If he turns into a full on Kobe just trying to take everyone off the dribble and get a little jump shot or drive and refuses to kick out, the team will quickly turn on him.

I think this situation is going to ultimately solidify Waiters becoming the leader of the second unit a la James Harden with the Thunder.  Waiters is going to shine during this time;  he’ll up his scoring to 18 a game with 5 plus assists.  I think this is also going to make Byron Scott very aware of how lacking the second unit is when it comes out while Irving or Waiters isn’t there to assist.  Tyler Zeller is great, but at the same time, he is only as great as the shots he's set up on on offense.  His defense and garbage buckets/rebounds will usually be present to ease some of our deficiencies from the bench.   Gibson can’t make his own shot and anytime CJ Miles is taking the ball anywhere he fucks it up.  Scott should see that Waiters's ability to score right now needs to be taken to the second unit, so we can stay in games.  Irving can lead and keep us with teams without Waiters on the floor.

I hope Byron Scott lets Waiters be the handler with Irving out and starts Boobie at point guard.  Boobie Gibson fizzles when there is no one driving and getting the kick out passes to him for open threes.  We’re going to need all the points we can get the next few weeks.  Furthermore, Donald Sloan and Jeremy Pargo have no chance with us, so why not maximize the learning experiences Dion can have and prepare him to be a leader?  Let him show us what he’s made of. Maybe he’ll get the chance to run the second show when Mr. Tony Irving returns.