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Tristan Thompson

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He'd normally be paid pretty well if that were the case. I'm on board with tt
 
David. said:
He'd normally be paid pretty well if that were the case. I'm on board with tt
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He's averaging 6.5 on the season(8.4 career). That seems a bit more fair than the 13 a year he wants.
 
I find it difficult to complain about how Thompson has been playing. His turnovers are down, and his shooting percentage is up and block rate are up. However, I will agree that he should not be taking any shots outside of 3 feet for the time being.
 
mcfly said:
I find it difficult to complain about how Thompson has been playing. His turnovers are down, and his shooting percentage is up and block rate are up. However, I will agree that he should not be taking any shots outside of 3 feet for the time being.
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This is a great microcosm of this thread. "TT is playing well, I don't have much to complain about".

I wasn't buying the bad defender label so many were throwing at him. He was holding his own, he just couldn't cover for everyone. He is still growing in this area too and his durability and strength are at least a little underrated.

His little hooks and things around the basket should def be his bread and butter. He needs to keep working on that jumpshot, but one a game should be a limit until it gets more reliable.

I feel like TT is the type of player that gets incrementally better for a long time. If he lasts that long I think we will wake up in 4 years and say wow this guy is damn good.
 
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Still small sample this year, but he has made solid improvements, if not in his game then in his performance. Some will say he has it easier playing alongside LeBron and Love, but he has taken advantage of it (not everyone on the team has, not mentioning any names). Actually, we might expect some further improvement this year because his jumpshooting has fallen off considerably since last year (at 28% eFG versus a surprising 40% last year per 82 games). Instead he has focused on work around the basket and his conversion rate there has soared and he doesn't get blocked at near the rate he has in the past (only 7% on inside shots versus 17% last year per 82 games). Overall, his TS% this year is a career high 54%. Clearly playing more center has helped his efficiency.

His defensive rebounding has fallen off to his rookie levels, but not coincidentally his block rate has risen to his rookie levels, so clearly he is being told to contest shots. His offensive rebounding rate is higher than ever where he is among the very best in the league (15.7 ORB%, 6.2 ORB/48 minutes), a skill that fits wonderfully well on this team.

As in the past, he has a knack for avoiding fouls (an under-appreciated skill) and continues to be an iron man, which is critical given the Cavs' thin front line.
 
kovanovich said:
Still small sample this year, but he has made solid improvements, if not in his game then in his performance. Some will say he has it easier playing alongside LeBron and Love, but he has taken advantage of it (not everyone on the team has, not mentioning any names). Actually, we might expect some further improvement this year because his jumpshooting has fallen off considerably since last year (at 28% eFG versus a surprising 40% last year per 82 games). Instead he has focused on work around the basket and his conversion rate there has soared and he doesn't get blocked at near the rate he has in the past (only 7% on inside shots versus 17% last year per 82 games). Overall, his TS% this year is a career high 54%. Clearly playing more center has helped his efficiency.

His defensive rebounding has fallen off to his rookie levels, but not coincidentally his block rate has risen to his rookie levels, so clearly he is being told to contest shots. His offensive rebounding rate is higher than ever where he is among the very best in the league (15.7 ORB%, 6.2 ORB/48 minutes), a skill that fits wonderfully well on this team.

As in the past, he has a knack for avoiding fouls (an under-appreciated skill) and continues to be an iron man, which is critical given the Cavs' thin front line.
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This and the previous post by Cavatt are giant cherry picks. Improvement on offense should be a given now that he plays against second team defenders. Even with that improvement, he is still a negative OBPM player (-0.1). And in the one area where the team really needs him, he is still terrible. Among F/C, he is 79th in Defensive Win Shares (0.3) and 67th in DBPM (0.0). Overall he is 80th in BPM among F/C (-0.2).

You guys can keep going on about his improvements, but improving means nothing when you go from a terrible player to merely a bad player. I'll grant that he looks decent in defending back to the basket, but his help defense and rotations are still atrocious. We have given up countless wide open layups because he has no idea what he is doing. And I count several times a game where a teammate throws their hands up and shakes their head because TT is nowhere to be found on a rotation.

This is no longer a rebuilding team. We can't just take any improvement as a sign that he might be good in four years and let him rack up big minutes hoping that he gets there.
 
NasstyNate said:
This and the previous post by Cavatt are giant cherry picks. Improvement on offense should be a given now that he plays against second team defenders. Even with that improvement, he is still a negative OBPM player (-0.1). And in the one area where the team really needs him, he is still terrible. Among F/C, he is 79th in Defensive Win Shares (0.3) and 67th in DBPM (0.0). Overall he is 80th in BPM among F/C (-0.2).

You guys can keep going on about his improvements, but improving means nothing when you go from a terrible player to merely a bad player. I'll grant that he looks decent in defending back to the basket, but his help defense and rotations are still atrocious. We have given up countless wide open layups because he has no idea what he is doing. And I count several times a game where a teammate throws their hands up and shakes their head because TT is nowhere to be found on a rotation.

This is no longer a rebuilding team. We can't just take any improvement as a sign that he might be good in four years and let him rack up big minutes hoping that he gets there.
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Few things...

Calling out other posters for cherry picking stats while simultaneously using nothing but Box Score Plus/Minus and Win Shares to call Tristan a bad player is ridiculous. By that very metric Tristan has graded out as our 6th best player right behind Shawn Marion as a league-average player.

And I guess we're not watching the same games, because Tristan has improved leaps and bounds as a weak side shot blocker. I think a legitimate case can be made he's been our best big at protecting the rim so far, he leads the team in blocks and challeges far more shots than either Love/Andy.

He doesn't regularly blow rotations around the basket anymore like you claim, he's consistently been contesting shots just outside the circle when he's the last line of defense.His biggest problem is staying vertical to not get the body foul, but overall his rotations are fine as long as he's not asked to close out shooters along the perimeter.

And for the final bit, you think TT seeing 25 minutes a night off the bench qualifies as "big minutes?" With Andy's durability concerns and Marion starting there's not a single other viable option on the bench to take minutes from TT at power forward or center- we're more likely to see his playing time increase from this point forward.
 
CosmoKramer said:
Few things...

Calling out other posters for cherry picking stats while simultaneously using nothing but Box Score Plus/Minus and Win Shares to call Tristan a bad player is ridiculous. By that very metric Tristan has graded out as our 6th best player right behind Shawn Marion as a league-average player.

And I guess we're not watching the same games, because Tristan has improved leaps and bounds as a weak side shot blocker. I think a legitimate case can be made he's been our best big at protecting the rim so far, he leads the team in blocks and challeges far more shots than either Love/Andy.

He doesn't regularly blow rotations around the basket anymore like you claim, he's consistently been contesting shots just outside the circle when he's the last line of defense.His biggest problem is staying vertical to not get the body foul, but overall his rotations are fine as long as he's not asked to close out shooters along the perimeter.

And for the final bit, you think TT seeing 25 minutes a night off the bench qualifies as "big minutes?" With Andy's durability concerns and Marion starting there's not a single other viable option on the bench to take minutes from TT at power forward or center- we're more likely to see his playing time increase from this point forward.
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While not exact, BPM and win shares (PER as well, where he is 63rd among F/C) are about as close as one can get to a comprehensive look at a player when comparing how they trend on aggregate. So it is far from ridiculous to use those somewhat comprehensive stats instead of specific cherry picked stats such as block rate and TS%. And thinking you are pointing out some hypocrisy only shows your own misunderstanding. The 6th best player on an average team that is entirely dependent on 3 or 4 of its best players means the player is not very good.

He's our best big at protecting the rim? Whoopty shit. We are third last in the league at FG% < 5ft. That's what I call faint praise.

We'll agree to disagree on what we see. There's a reason we have to rely on ridiculous shooting nights and Lebron being Lebron to beat average teams. It's because TT, Love and to a lesser extent Andy are god awful interior defenders. But at least Love and Andy give us more on offense than wide open dunks from others creating.

Not sure if you were one of the Dion guys, but this board will eventually see the reality of who TT is just like it has recently with Dion. Praise his agent for rejecting that contract.
 
Holy shit, does TT show up for the big games... first against a Chicago front court no one gave him a chance against and tonight he basically saved us with his Offensive rebounds in the fourth.
 
I still can't get over his free this improvement in both percentage and form. 2 clutch 'nothing but net' free throws with perfect arc in the last two minutes.

That is the result of hard work. I still believe it's possible for his offensive diversity to improve each year, especially now surrounded with talented veterans.
 
There's stretches of games where his play pisses me off so much that I want him off the team, and then he'll have a game that reminds me why he's going to be so important for us. Monster game.
 
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