I know fans are pretty down on DG and he may never play for the Cavs again but I found this information interesting and thought I’d share. I’m not trying to make excuses for him, some of his struggles were more mental than physical and he should’ve been better in the playoffs. I hate seeing how many fans have turned on DG who’s a great kid and was huge in getting us out of the rebuild and I will be giving him the benefit of the doubt.
Highlights
– Broken jaw ➡️ weaker teeth clenching ➡️ weaker in general
– drop in production is clearly correlated to the injury (not playing with Donovan).
– similar to Tatum having a bad 4 months after he got long COVID.
– Just because most of the weight is back doesn’t mean his strength is back.
– He should be good to go next season.
by Emergency-Top-4505
7 Comments
Hard pass for me on this line of excuses. His play has been trending downward for 2 years and the injury just poured gasoline on the match.
Good work OP. Much better than “muh eyeee test!”
DG is a good player but he and Mitchell haven’t found that chemistry, that doesn’t make DG a bad player
I get he lost weight and that it takes some time to get that back. But he’s an all star point guard with a team of strength coaches and nutritionists at his disposal. Can we stop acting like it’s gonna take him years to get 10 pounds back? It’s fine that it doesn’t work with him and Mitchell. And with his agent coming out saying they want a trade if Mitchell signs an extension, clearly they don’t think it was just an issue with his playing weight…
His productivity was fine before the injury even while sharing the floor with Don. The issue was the two of them pretty much played “my turn, your turn” ball on offense.
He didnt look good before the injury either. He had his moments but it definitely wasn’t like last year. I think it was a hierarchy thing. Someone told him this used to be his team and now it wasnt so he tried to act more dominant than he actually is and he got inauthentic play with meager production. He strayed from who he is. Could be totally wrong on that but thats kinda what ive been seeing.
My biggest problem with DG (and a few other on the roster as well) is the “U turn” offense. He constantly dribbles into the paint or towards the basket without a plan, gets stopped and U-turns back out to the 3 pt line. By the time he sets up to do something else or passes the ball off, we have to force up a rushed shot. I see it over and over again. Enough. Trade him.