Tristan Thompson

[daddywags]

I watched the game 3 times did you notice who was guarding TT it was their center one of the best rim defender in the league. With Hawes in the game the other center will not come out to defend so on TT is giving up 3 or 4 inches on offence. If we are going to start Hawes we would be better off starting AV with him and have TT and Zeller coming off the bench.

I noticed that and mentioned it to my daughter as we watched. It made sense for GS to use Lee on Hawes outside and Bogut on TT down low. We tried to use TT's quickness vs. the slower Bogut but it didn't work out very well. Decent plan, not well executed though.

 

[Derek]

I watched the game 3 times did you notice who was guarding TT it was their center one of the best rim defender in the league. With Hawes in the game the other center will not come out to defend so on TT is giving up 3 or 4 inches on offence. If we are going to start Hawes we would be better off starting AV with him and have TT and Zeller coming off the bench.

That's one of the problems with playing Tristan. Even if we get a floor spacer at Center, his inability to stretch the floor allows team to match up with us by doing exactly what you described.

This is what teams will continue to do. They will defend Hawes with their quicker post player and keep their rim protector on Tristan. It's the same thing you see with us starting Jack alongside Kyrie. Teams put their best defensive wing on Kyrie and then guard Jack with their PG. The other team can cross-match on defense because we aren't capable of taking advantage.

 

[Nathan S]

I noticed that and mentioned it to my daughter as we watched. It made sense for GS to use Lee on Hawes outside and Bogut on TT down low. We tried to use TT's quickness vs. the slower Bogut but it didn't work out very well. Decent plan, not well executed though.

Any plan that involves our worst offensive player going against our opponent's best defensive player does not qualify as "decent." Mike Brown deserves part of the credit for our defense last night, but his offensive gameplan and substitutions were just as bad as always.

 

[Fuggles]

Given his tools and feel for the game, TT now is likely who he'll be. I don't envision an optimistic develop curve. Trade him before he gets expensive.

The odds of him making some huge leap are unrealistic but the idea that a guy that turned 23 the other day not improving anymore is somewhat ridiculous.

And if TT is a finished product then how would he get expensive?

 

[Cashius X]

The odds of him making some huge leap are unrealistic but the idea that a guy that turned 23 the other day not improving anymore is somewhat ridiculous.

And if TT is a finished product then how would he get expensive?

4/40 (Reasonable estimation for his next contract) is a lot of money to pay a player who isn't even our clear cut starter going forward.

 

[DELONTEizDad]

I watched the game 3 times did you notice who was guarding TT it was their center one of the best rim defender in the league. With Hawes in the game the other center will not come out to defend so on TT is giving up 3 or 4 inches on offence. If we are going to start Hawes we would be better off starting AV with him and have TT and Zeller coming off the bench.

I'm not even really talking about when he was being guarded. He gets point blank looks by himself or on a break and fucks it up repeatedly.

He did it again later in the game as well. Minimal, if really any, traffic down low and he misses two footers.

It's fucking brutal- he was killing us out there.

I do not expect him to create his own offense. I do expect him to be able to score within the restricted area when he is pretty much by his lonesome- not gather himself for a goddamn fucking day and a half pretty much just waiting for the help D.

He is incredibly awkward around the hoop and can't really put it down strong or play within the flow of the game.

All that being said I am not giving up on him yet and am willing to write this off as a slump or growing pains. I find it very troublesome and can't ignore it though.

 

[Nathan S]

4/40 (Reasonable estimation for his next contract) is a lot of money to pay a player who isn't even our clear cut starter going forward.

Who's going to offer him that much though, assuming he doesn't make a big leap? TT's pretty low-profile here in Cleveland, averaging 12 and 9 on mediocre efficiency with less than half a block per game. I think 4-7M/year is a much more realistic price for him, depending on how much he improves between now and then.

 

[oasis05]

Thompson get 7 million. That's reasonable going forward.

 

[EdMonix11]

The odds of him making some huge leap are unrealistic but the idea that a guy that turned 23 the other day not improving anymore is somewhat ridiculous.

And if TT is a finished product then how would he get expensive?

I don't mean to pick on you but I keep hearing people mention TT's age as a reason he'll surely develop into a better player, but no TT supporter is willing to recognize that TT has gone BACKWARDS in many ways this year. And now we see his play absolutely plummet now that he isn't being propped up by system now that there's a bonafide big man scoring option in a wine & gold uniform. Shit, he hasn't even been rebounding well since Hawes got here.

I read a few posts back that it was Mike Brown's fault by putting TT near the basket, allowing his shot to be blocked. I don't particularly care for MB, but that's ridiculous, where else does he put TT on offense? Where can TT score other than right below the rim? TT was and still is a big problem for this offense but I hope his play with Hawes in the lineup opens up Mike Brown's eyes.....

 

[Nathan S]

Thompson get 7 million. That's reasonable going forward.

He'll have to improve significantly to get 7M. Power forwards are plentiful. Is there a single GM that would look at him right now and say "I can't wait to have this guy starting and playing 30+ minutes a night for my team!" and give him a 7M/year contract? With how he's played this season he's probably seen as a bench player, which means 4-5M/year tops.

Again, he has potential to improve and I'm not ruling that out, but as a rule of thumb we fans tend to overvalue our own players. If the RCF consensus is that we'd be willing to pay him 6M/year, say, then that's probably on the extreme upper end of what another team's GM would offer.

EDIT: Also, on the topic of "why is TT struggling with Hawes in the lineup?" it's a combination of two things. One, the Hawes pick&pop is superior to the TT pick&roll, so we pretty much never run pick&rolls with TT anymore. Two, Kyrie is running fewer pick&rolls overall these days because Jack does the majority of the ballhandling (this is a huge problem which needs to be fixed).

 

[Fuggles]

You can claim TT has shit the bed the second half of the season while still saying he isn't a finished product.

And if a TT supporter is someone who says anything positive about TT ever I think you need to relax. I am more than comfortable with low-balling him on his extension and then trading him depending on what happens.

 

[Spencer Hawes]

I swear, he must be leading the league in getting his shots blocked. Or is in the top 3 lol. I have never seen a big get stuffed or struggle this much to score inside ever. Whenever he has the ball and a defender is bodying him up, it's like watching elephants hump. Slow and uncomfortable.

 

[Cashius X]

Who's going to offer him that much though, assuming he doesn't make a big leap? TT's pretty low-profile here in Cleveland, averaging 12 and 9 on mediocre efficiency with less than half a block per game. I think 4-7M/year is a much more realistic price for him, depending on how much he improves between now and then.

Shit, hopefully he agrees to that much. He's a RFA and in this league someone is bound to offer him more than our projected worth of him.

 

[CosmoKramer]

They will defend Hawes with their quicker post player and keep their rim protector on Tristan.

Why is this such a bad thing? Hawes is over 7 foot, I don't mind teams immediately switching their PFs onto him and giving our better offensive big a size advantage. It really didn't work for the Warriors last night, Hawes went for 22-13. David Lee is somehow a top 10 big defending the rim, GS sending him out (and away from the one area on the court he defends well) to check Hawes had the same spacing effect as Bogut having to leave the paint. TT struggled with his shot against the longer player all night, but he also drew a couple fouls in less than a minute when they gave him the ball in space and let him attack.

Who's going to offer him that much though, assuming he doesn't make a big leap? TT's pretty low-profile here in Cleveland, averaging 12 and 9 on mediocre efficiency with less than half a block per game. I think 4-7M/year is a much more realistic price for him, depending on how much he improves between now and then.

Teams are always looking to overpay for decent bigs, and especially ones that can give you any minutes at center. If we let him go to restricted free agency it's a certainty he'll wind up an unreasonable contract. It's a matter of collecting a young asset without giving us back anything in return, why wouldn't a team throw a 4/40 million a year contract at Tristan? He'll only be 24, you're getting the best years of his career. There's going to be a whole lot of teams with cap space in 2015, once the top players are off the market a couple of the jilted teams will come calling.

I don't mean to pick on you but I keep hearing people mention TT's age as a reason he'll surely develop into a better player, but no TT supporter is willing to recognize that TT has gone BACKWARDS in many ways this year. And now we see his play absolutely plummet now that he isn't being propped up by system now that there's a bonafide big man scoring option in a wine & gold uniform. Shit, he hasn't even been rebounding well since Hawes got here.

Absolutely plummet? What are you talking about?

pre-trade: 32.9 minutes, 12.2 points on (46.8 FG%, 65.8 FT%), 9.6 rebounds, .9 assists, 1.5 turnovers
post-trade: 31.8 minutes, 11.3 points on (50.5 FG%, 72.2 FT%), 8.8 rebounds, 1.1 assists, 1.2 turnovers

 

[Nathan S]

Let me put it this way...

10M/year would put TT right between Paul Millsap and Tim Duncan among PFs in terms of salary.

8M/year would put TT right between Taj Gibson and Ryan Anderson among PFs in terms of salary.

6M/year would put TT right between Chuck Hayes and Channing Frye among PFs in terms of salary (excluding Derrick Favors, who's on a rookie contract).

Call me crazy...but 6, maybe 7M/year seems like the most he could get in free agency, with 8M possible only with a true breakout season next year.

Oh, and DX has six PFs slotted in the lottery this year...so six teams that might have been in the market for a moderately promising young big like TT will fill that hole in the draft.