Report: Dion Waiters has illness due to being taken out of starting lineup
By Ryan Donoho
Dion Waiters and the Cavaliers have had a underwhelming start to the season. After a 29 point loss to the Timberwolves, they held a players only meeting, and reports say that things got heated. Waiters was rumored to have a role in the meetings because of his play, but the story gets weirder from there:
"The meeting was intense – the Cavs played terrible and lost by 29 points – but two players who were in the room both privately said some of the speculation has been overblown and it wasn’t combative, nor was Dion Waiters a target of the meeting. The players weren’t very happy, but no specific player was singled out. …As for Waiters and this illness, Mike Brown said he has been to the doctor twice and has aprescription. I’ve heard whispers Waiters knew he was going to get demoted to the second team. Did he know that and make up this illness? Is he really sick? The only one who really knows the answer to that is Waiters.No one on the team has really seen or heard from Waiters since Wednesday’s game. He didn’t attend Friday’s shootaround because of this illness and didn’t make the trip to Washington for tonight’s game. No one I talked to really knows how sick Waiters is or what all this is about.The meeting was intense – the Cavs played terrible and lost by 29 points – but two players who were in the room both privately said some of the speculation has been overblown and it wasn’t combative, nor was Dion Waiters a target of the meeting. The players weren’t very happy, but no specific player was singled out. …As for Waiters and this illness, Mike Brown said he has been to the doctor twice and has aprescription. I’ve heard whispers Waiters knew he was going to get demoted to the second team. Did he know that and make up this illness? Is he really sick? The only one who really knows the answer to that is Waiters.No one on the team has really seen or heard from Waiters since Wednesday’s game. He didn’t attend Friday’s shootaround because of this illness and didn’t make the trip to Washington for tonight’s game. No one I talked to really knows how sick Waiters is or what all this is about."
This sounds like a guy who was taken in the lottery, hasn’t lived up to his pick yet, and it trying to save face for his benching. Either way, it’s a bit odd, and the Cavs have a lot of problems early on.