Tristan Thompson

[OptimusPrime]

For people defending Thompson...

What's the difference between Thompson and a guy like Kris Humphries?

Kris Humphries can hit a jumper if you don't guard him.

 

[Cassity14]

So you think the T'Wolves and Wizards are two smart teams?

Smart teams draft a player like Steph Curry and play to his strengths. They find gems in the 2nd round like Draymond Green. They draft players who have an elite skill like Klay Thompson has at shooting. They acquire great veteran players at the right time to make a playoff push like Bogut. They spend money to get the players to put them over the hump like Iggy. They also know how to find the right coach for their best player. You know a former PG with 15 years experience playing in the league.

Oh and the T'Wolves have the longest playoff drought in the league and opted to pay Rubio before Kevin Love. Smart move?

Or how about the Wizards who are still paying Gilbert Arenas 20 mil per. So smart right?

And this 'smart team' blew their pick on Harrison Barnes...

Nobody gets it right all the time.

 

[KyrieIrvingDuke]

We cannot go into next season with TT as our starting PF if we're hoping for the playoffs. His future in this league is as an energy big off the bench. His playing style is severely detrimental to Kyrie, as well as Dion to a lesser extent.

We need a pick and pop PF.

 

[Spencer Hawes]

Are you trying to advocate smart teams move young players before their rookie deals end? Because that's a very Kings-like thing to do, I don't see any smart teams dying to sell low on their young lottery talents.

Tristan played 23 minutes a night as a rookie with a little less than half of that at center. Not exactly 'starters minutes.'

We've got a full year before we have to make the decision between the two, can't we see AB look halfway competent before we put all our eggs in his basket?

First off trading him is not the only solution. You seem to think that people who feel that TT shouldn't be starting and logging heavy minutes means automatically that he should be traded. Why can't he play a role similar to Taj Gibson or a young Andy who comes off the bench? You must be really be blinded by this dude switching hands lol. He's average at best and I'm not holding my breath for him to take the next step and be an anchor at the PF spot if we're talking playoffs. You can if you want.

Besides, who are you calling smart here? We've been sucking it up for a long time so don't give me that shit about how other organizations are stupid compared to the current Cavs regime.

 

[elcheato]

Defense. Guys like Humphries and JJ Hickson put up solid numbers but gave that all back with lazy, clueless defense. TT is already a better defensive player, at a younger age, than those 2 will ever be.

According to what exactly? Every single stats says TT is not a good defender, and when watching the games, it confirms the stats. He doesn't look good defensively.

 

[oasis05]

Taj Gibson has elite talent defensively. He may be better than Varejao at this point. Thompson is a garbage man. He's gotten fat. Stuck to the ground. No finishing no jump shot. No explosiveness, no anchor in post defense despite the added weight. His developement has gone horribly wrong. He's got no basketball I.q. The only time he looks good is when he's being spoon fed. Cavs completely bricked the pick. I've had it.

 

[Cashius X]

Taj Gibson has elite talent defensively. He may be better than Varejao at this point. Thompson is a garbage man. He's gotten fat. Stuck to the ground. No finishing no jump shot. No explosiveness, no anchor in post defense despite the added weight. His developement has gone horribly wrong. He's got no basketball I.q. The only time he looks good is when he's being spoon fed. Cavs completely bricked the pick. I've had it.

....:wtf:

 

[Rich]

Thought he defended well tonight

 

[DELONTEizDad]

According to what exactly? Every single stats says TT is not a good defender, and when watching the games, it confirms the stats. He doesn't look good defensively.

I think his defensive presence is vastly overrated around here but what stats are we talking about?

 

[cavfanintexas]

Taj Gibson has elite talent defensively. He may be better than Varejao at this point. Thompson is a garbage man. He's gotten fat. Stuck to the ground. No finishing no jump shot. No explosiveness, no anchor in post defense despite the added weight. His developement has gone horribly wrong. He's got no basketball I.q. The only time he looks good is when he's being spoon fed. Cavs completely bricked the pick. I've had it.

You are being a little bit over the top on this, TT is not having the best second 1/2 of the season and if he does not start to improve a lot over the summer I see him coming off the bench but to say he is fat and has no BB IQ is total bull.

 

[elcheato]

I think his defensive presence is vastly overrated around here but what stats are we talking about?

Defensive Rating, opposing PFs shoot 65% from the restricted area against him (4th worst among PFs). Team gives up less points per possession with him off the court. Normally I wouldn't use team stats, but it corresponds with how opponents finish so well against him.

 

[CosmoKramer]

First off trading him is not the only solution. You seem to think that people who feel that TT shouldn't be starting and logging heavy minutes means automatically that he should be traded. Why can't he play a role similar to Taj Gibson or a young Andy who comes off the bench? You must be really be blinded by this dude switching hands lol. He's average at best and I'm not holding my breath for him to take the next step and be an anchor at the PF spot if we're talking playoffs. You can if you want.

I responded to your question about "rolling the dice" on TT, that has nothing to do with limiting his minutes. I thought you were questioning the upcoming contract extension on TT, which we've been speculating about the past few pages. It would actually make sense with your gambling analogy as well.

And stop putting words in my mouth. I never said TT couldn't play a role similar to Taj Gibson, my main argument was always AB shouldn't be starting over him. Did we all forget how bad AB was or something?

You can go back and re-read my posts, I've always maintained Bennett has a chance to start going into next training camp if he puts everything together. I'm just not ready to make that gamble yet, especially with how poorly AB showed this year. Other posters have suggested trading TT this offseason, I've argued that decision doesn't have to made until next year.

Besides, who are you calling smart here? We've been sucking it up for a long time so don't give me that shit about how other organizations are stupid compared to the current Cavs regime.

I used the Kings as an example, they're right up there in the running for worst-ran NBA franchise of the last 10 years. You don't think the Kings are stupid? 2nd longest postseason drought in the NBA. They've traded or released 2 different top ten picks (Thomas Robinson & Jimmer Ferdette) they've drafted themselves in the past 3 years. They also traded a future first round pick for JJ Hickson. And the most damning evidence the Kings have absolutely no clue on what they're doing? They traded for Rudy Gay, and Rudy Gay's ungodly, mammoth contract.

So yes, the Cavs are smart compared to some teams.

According to what exactly? Every single stats says TT is not a good defender, and when watching the games, it confirms the stats. He doesn't look good defensively.

Opponent PER shows TT being the best defensive big on the team ahead of Andy. TT is currently the 2nd best big on our team in points per possession allowed according to Synergy, which IMO is the best single-number indicator you can use to gauge a player's defensive ability.

Andy - .84
Tristan - .89
Zeller- .9
AB - 1.03
Hawes - 1.09

If you go back a year you'll see TT at .84, Andy at .71, and Zeller at 1.03, further cementing TT as a plus-defensive player over his career.

How does Tristan not look good defensively? I think he defended Bosh well last night. Bosh had his own personal run of 9 consecutive points in the 4th with Andy guarding him, not Tristan.

He defends the pick and roll extremely well, his shows and recoveries are the best on the team. He's got great quickness and can play in space, he regularly surprises ball handlers with his size on the perimeter with well timed shows. He even forced an easy turnover tonight by poking a ball away and running out an easy dunk. His man-to-man defense is also solid, he can be scored on but he contests almost every shot his man puts up.

He's not the bad defensive player he's being made out to be, and the numbers back this up.

 

[Spencer Hawes]

I responded to your question about "rolling the dice" on TT, that has nothing to do with limiting his minutes. I thought you were questioning the upcoming contract extension on TT, which we've been speculating about the past few pages. It would actually make sense with your gambling analogy as well.

And stop putting words in my mouth. I never said TT couldn't play a role similar to Taj Gibson, my main argument was always AB shouldn't be starting over him. Did we all forget how bad AB was or something?

You can go back and re-read my posts, I've always maintained Bennett has a chance to start going into next training camp if he puts everything together. I'm just not ready to make that gamble yet, especially with how poorly AB showed this year. Other posters have suggested trading TT this offseason, I've argued that decision doesn't have to made until next year.



I used the Kings as an example, they're right up there in the running for worst-ran NBA franchise of the last 10 years. You don't think the Kings are stupid? 2nd longest postseason drought in the NBA. They've traded or released 2 different top ten picks (Thomas Robinson & Jimmer Ferdette) they've drafted themselves in the past 3 years. They also traded a future first round pick for JJ Hickson. And the most damning evidence the Kings have absolutely no clue on what they're doing? They traded for Rudy Gay, and Rudy Gay's ungodly, mammoth contract.

So yes, the Cavs are smart compared to some teams.



Opponent PER shows TT being the best defensive big on the team ahead of Andy. TT is currently the 2nd best big on our team in points per possession allowed according to Synergy, which IMO is the best single-number indicator you can use to gauge a player's defensive ability.

Andy - .84
Tristan - .89
Zeller- .9
AB - 1.03
Hawes - 1.09

If you go back a year you'll see TT at .84, Andy at .71, and Zeller at 1.03, further cementing TT as a plus-defensive player over his career.

How does Tristan not look good defensively? I think he defended Bosh well last night. Bosh had his own personal run of 9 consecutive points in the 4th with Andy guarding him, not Tristan.

He defends the pick and roll extremely well, his shows and recoveries are the best on the team. He's got great quickness and can play in space, he regularly surprises ball handlers with his size on the perimeter with well timed shows. He even forced an easy turnover tonight by poking a ball away and running out an easy dunk. His man-to-man defense is also solid, he can be scored on but he contests almost every shot his man puts up.

He's not the bad defensive player he's being made out to be, and the numbers back this up.

1. How did you conclude that a contract extension for 4 years at about 7~8 million per year equate to wanting him to be traded? That was your misinterpretation of the contract extension talks. What I said was if some team is willing to give him $10 million per year, they can have him cause his production is replaceable. And that is agreed upon by other posters.

2. Calling Sacramento inept and saying our organization is smart is completely ludicrous when Sacramento has more wins in the 4 years (98) than us (90). Yeah, they're so inept that they can win more games than our intelligent franchise.

3. I find it funny that you use shitty defensive players as the backbone of your argument when trying to paint TT as a good defender. Zeller? Bennett? Hawes? Are you freaking kidding me? Andy is on the list that you gave us but he's not a shut down any kind of defender. You're using shit to prop up shit. I'm not saying TT is a shit defender but his defense is nothing stellar and is replaceable as well as his inefficient offensive production.

 

[Kizzle]

Someone is talking about trading TT? Cmon wtf. Hes outperformed every big in that draft but MAYBE Drummond and hes still young. This board is starting to piss me off. They think that every 1st round pick we draft is supposed to be Lebron. Kids take time to develop man, I don't get how people don't get this concept

 

[Rich]

1. How did you conclude that a contract extension for 4 years at about 7~8 million per year equate to wanting him to be traded? That was your misinterpretation of the contract extension talks. What I said was if some team is willing to give him $10 million per year, they can have him cause his production is replaceable. And that is agreed upon by other posters.

2. Calling Sacramento inept and saying our organization is smart is completely ludicrous when Sacramento has more wins in the 4 years (98) than us (90). Yeah, they're so inept that they can win more games than our intelligent franchise.

3. I find it funny that you use shitty defensive players as the backbone of your argument when trying to paint TT as a good defender. Zeller? Bennett? Hawes? Are you freaking kidding me? Andy is on the list that you gave us but he's not a shut down any kind of defender. You're using shit to prop up shit. I'm not saying TT is a shit defender but his defense is nothing stellar and is replaceable as well as his inefficient offensive production.

I really wish people would read stuff before replying. If you'll notice, his argument about opponent PER and points against in comparison to the other bigs was in response to elcheato, who did, in fact say that TT was bad defender and, in particular, that every stat showed as much.