2012 Cavs Summer League

[gregdawg]

He's just so rudimentary in the few times he does catch it down there. He doesn't even show flashes of anything anymore. It truly appears to me that he's regressed since the start of his rookie year, where we at least saw him attempt to attack the hoop with a fairly quick first step and pretty aggressive move directly toward the hoop, rather than his patented escape from pressure across the paint to the twisting one-handed jumper (not a true hook) bullshit. No footwork, no strength, and absolutely atrocious ball-control... it looks like the thing's covered in grease when it's in his hands.

He is currently awful at utilizing what athleticism he has, never really exploding upwards when there's a defender even ostensibly in his vicinity. Is that weakness, lack of suddenness in his jumping ability, a mental block, a combination of all, or none of the above? I don't know, but I do know that I'm caring less than I used to.

There are just so many things that he would have to improve on immensely to ever become anything more than serviceable. This is just summer league, but just look at guys like Markieff Morris, Kenneth Faried, hell, even Sammy Samuels, and how they move while playing -- it's so much more confident and there is more evidence of basketball-oriented coordination and ability, and none of them are even that good. Tristan's unveiling of his new jumper last night, where he took an awkward dribble, suddenly realized he wanted to shoot, went up off-balance, and got swatted, was particularly hard to watch. Tristan's defense has not looked especially impressive against scrubs, especially given that he has a year of defending in the NBA under his belt. He's not blocking shots or protecting the rim all that well. He can board, so I guess there's that, but is that all we want out of our starting PF?

There are players picked after him that I would have rather had on that draft night and that I would rather have right now, though there are only a scant few about whom I can say both of those things. But that's not really even the point. Currently, I'm just kind of disappointed that I can't imagine our #4 pick last year being any sort of special player in this league in any way, not thinking about the specific draft, but just generally as a "I wish we had gotten another stud in the top 5" kind of way. I'm rooting for him to prove me wrong, but I'm finding it harder and harder to have any sort of reasonable hopes that he will.

yeah, i kind of have to agree. as much as i like tristan and want him to develop, he just looks awkward with the ball. most of the time Samardo looks much more comfortable and natural than Tristan which is pretty frustrating considering Tristan was the #4 pick and Samardo is undrafted. if Tristan still looks that shaky i just don't see him growing out of it. His ideal role will probably end up being a defender and rebounder off the bench. His offense is just too shaky to warrant a starting spot on a good team. Tristan has off-court smarts but just looks confused and unsure on the court, whereas Samardo seems mentally challenged off-court but looks very sharp on the court. Samardo kind of reminds me of an idiot savant - he can barely string a sentence together, yet when you watch him on the court he looks very natural and focused. kind of weird.

 

[Cavsfan1985]

I agree TT has not looked great yet. But be is not even 21 years old yet! Give the kid a break before we judge him. He is still putting it all together, it takes bigs more time to developed. We took him as a player with high upside let him get there.

 

[Snowblind]

I agree TT has not looked great yet. But be is not even 21 years old yet! Give the kid a break before we judge him. He is still putting it all together, it takes bigs more time to developed. We took him as a player with high upside let him get there.

Well he is 21.. but he's still young, I hope he keeps working hard and improves his game.