Tristan Thompson: Initial Thoughts

[dr aj]

Need. Insider. Info. Please!

I'm no insider but i've heard things going around that when the Cavaliers tried out both Derrick Williams and TT (Tristan Thompson), Thompson balled the hell outta Williams.

If you want to make it in the NBA you have to work hard and he obviously has shown that ability to be able to be taken that high in the draft.

Like a number of people have said, let him play a season or two and see how he develops.

 

[Shakalu M.D.]

There are definitely two possibilities here:

#1: The Cavs liked Thompson all along, and everything involving Jonas was a ruse. I'd be tempted to say that there was also a possibility that Kanter was the main target and Thompson was the fallback. We know that Thompson was a special defensive big at the collegiate level, and he can be a fast break basketball role player at a high level. I wouldn't rule it out.

#2: The Cavs tried to get too cute and draft for another team, knowing that Toronto liked Thompson. I always thought Thompson was a great fit replacing Reggie Evans in Toronto. I guess that if the Cavs wanted to get cute and play games with Washington, they were also comfortable with keeping Thompson if it blew up in their faces.


No matter what, I'm far more concerned with the Cavs' pattern of treading water in the late-first and early-second. Grant keeps walking away from the craps table when the sure-thing is gone. The big winners in this game still roll the dice and win when the chips are down and come out winners. I don't know if Grant has that type of personality, or those type of scouts.

I agree with you whole heartedly when it comes to the bolded part. I'm sick of coming out of the 2nd with no real contributors, it's been happening for years. There is talent to be had there, especially when you're picking as early as 32. How many of us were screaming for Dejuan Blair 2 years ago when he fell? He's been pretty damn solid since he came into the league. I realize that was a Ferry choice, but Grant obviously had some say in the situation.

I agree with you first scenario as well. I think the Cavs really like Kanter and were hoping that Utah would take Knight. Since that didn't happen they went with the next guy on their board, Tristan.

 

[Zen]

I feel completely vindicated by the pick tonight. I was in the Q when TT worked out from the Cavs. I watched for about 45 minutes the drills and sets they were running against several other top end prospects. That night I went home and told each and every one of my friends that based on what I saw that day I would take him over the other 5 people involved. I came to find out later that the Cavs focused on the interview process for hours. To me the interview is equally as valuable as a talent showcase. Exploring the psyche of a player along with their personality can be extremely telling. From the great things I have heard about how the interviews went I am certainly not shocked TT was picked at #4.

I'll admit that I have only read 4 pages of this thread but I am absolutely shocked that everyone is so negative about this pick. I come to question how much research these people really put in. I'm not saying his is a lock as a great player but its definitely a quality choice. Equal to or greater than picking Jonas V in my opinion.

My only question is how do you dump JJ hickson off after making it blatantly obviously he isn't in your long term plans?

 

[Pioneer10]

I'm no insider but i've heard things going around that when the Cavaliers tried out both Derrick Williams and TT (Tristan Thompson), Thompson balled the hell outta Williams.

If you want to make it in the NBA you have to work hard and he obviously has shown that ability to be able to be taken that high in the draft.

Like a number of people have said, let him play a season or two and see how he develops.

The news from the Kanter workout was also that Kanter had a very difficult time scoring against Thompson as well. This basically triggered the Tracy McGrady like rise by Thompson.

He's very young and is supposedly loved by the Texas coaching staff so hopefully he can build up his offensive game to match his defensive potential

 

[elcheato]

I would love to know what W&G thinks about Thompson, and what he thinks about the Thompson/JJ comparisons.

They should not be made considering Thompson's best attributes are defense and rebounding.. Only thing similar is their height and they're both athletic.

 

[Spencer Hawes]

He couldn't shoot from the outside for shit in college, or in Dallas.

I beg to differ. He shot 27% in his rookie season but in his 2nd year in Dallas, he shot 33.6% making 133 that season. It's not lights out but reliable. He's a 34.8% career 3 point shooter. So yeah, he sucked in college and his rookie year but developed into a solid 3 point shooter unlike Eric Snow. It wasn't like he sucked for half of his NBA career and drastically improved later. He got consistent early in his career and that's through shear hard work since he wasn't blessed with a natural shooting touch.

 

[PeterGibbons]

Someone please explain how a guy with great length, motor, hops and "high basketball IQ" is such a crappy defensive rebounder.

That, his lack of offense and terrible free throw shooting make this pick at #4 questionable.

The only difference between him and Verajao is leaping and shot blocking. AV is better at free throw shooting, jump shooting (that's scary) and defensive rebounding. And we know AV is not a true center.

Plus Samuels showed signs of improving into the bench player that Thompson will surely be competing with him to be, especially since Jamison will still need minutes until he is dumped.



They may have drafted the player they liked, but it certainly wasn't in the position of greatest need.

 

[Randolphkeys]

I beg to differ. He shot 27% in his rookie season but in his 2nd year in Dallas, he shot 33.6% making 133 that season. It's not lights out but reliable. He's a 34.8% career 3 point shooter. So yeah, he sucked in college and his rookie year but developed into a solid 3 point shooter unlike Eric Snow. It wasn't like he sucked for half of his NBA career and drastically improved later. He got consistent early in his career and that's through shear hard work since he wasn't blessed with a natural shooting touch.

I meant early career, and I'm not impressed by 34% from three. It's too damn late in the evening to split hairs on people who aren't freshly drafted Cavaliers. Let's get on-topic for The Love of All Things Micheal Cage!

 

[czvo]

You know, a lot of the people who get paid to watch these guys raved about Thompson. I'm going to keep trying to talk myself into Thompson.

 

[Spencer Hawes]

I meant early career, and I'm not impressed by 34% from three. It's too damn late in the evening to split hairs on people who aren't freshly drafted Cavaliers. Let's get on-topic for The Love of All Things Micheal Cage!

That 34% is early career lol. His second season as a pro playing for Dallas! All I'm saying is that TT could develop a solid jumper and knowing that he has a great work ethic. Is he going to be the next David West? Most likley not but can he develop a consistent jumper like David West? Maybe. And besides, I love Michael Cage and his jheri curl.

 

[RchfldCavRaised]

Im unimpressed and frankly disappointed in our moves after the Irving pick.

Anyone who considers Tristan Thompson to be anything other than the safest big man remaining after Kanter and Williams is lying to themselves.

Tired of the criticism police on here. Blind optimism is not admirable.

You dont win championships by being safe. And I dont give a damn about Hollingers advanced statistics.

I like Texas, I like Big12 ball, so I saw Thompson a few times this year, and I came away as unimpressed with him as I was when Sullinger made him look like a JV player in the Nationally Televised game in high school. Dont throw the box score at me, because I remember him getting some garbage buckets. But when it counted, it was so obvious that Thompson wasnt in the same league as Sullinger that it didnt seem fair to me that Findley Prep wasnt playing some kind of zone to help him out. Felt that he and Corey Joseph both should have stayed in school. The first time I watched him at Texas, he looked like trash and was picking up fouls like a novice.... at home... being schooled on the block by Tyler Zeller and I distinctly remember him getting backed down by 150 lb John Henson and picking up a foul trying to guard his non existent offense. I thought the Wannameme dude had more big man pro potential because he played with more aggression and purpose than Thompson did.

My biggest problem with the way this draft played out, is that even after a full season in college ball, I think that both Valanciunas AND Biyombo have a higher ceiling and are better right now at Thompsons strengths than he is. That pisses me off. I would have taken ANY of the next 6 picks before I would have taken Thompson. To hell with need. We went through 26 losses in a row so we could have the chance to add more talent to this team. And we wasted our pick on a guy we could have drafted at 13 or 14 when the Morris Twins came off.

What this feels like to me, is that either Grant was trying to be cute and get an extra pick by trading back and grabbing Jonas later, and he got burned by Colangelo, or our Front Office went Wayne Embry on us and decided to go with the "safest" remaining big with the best character all over again.

I was willing to wait for these buyouts to be resolved. I would have taken either Jonas or Biyambo before I even considered Tristan Thompson. Either of those two could have "potentially" become game changers on defense. Thompson could never anchor a defense.

We just drafted Chris Wilcox... only 2 inches shorter

 

[Layne Staley]

I feel completely vindicated by the pick tonight. I was in the Q when TT worked out from the Cavs. I watched for about 45 minutes the drills and sets they were running against several other top end prospects. That night I went home and told each and every one of my friends that based on what I saw that day I would take him over the other 5 people involved. I came to find out later that the Cavs focused on the interview process for hours. To me the interview is equally as valuable as a talent showcase. Exploring the psyche of a player along with their personality can be extremely telling. From the great things I have heard about how the interviews went I am certainly not shocked TT was picked at #4.

I'll admit that I have only read 4 pages of this thread but I am absolutely shocked that everyone is so negative about this pick. I come to question how much research these people really put in. I'm not saying his is a lock as a great player but its definitely a quality choice. Equal to or greater than picking Jonas V in my opinion.

My only question is how do you dump JJ hickson off after making it blatantly obviously he isn't in your long term plans?

These are the posts I like to read. Old school rep for you sir.

This board is acting just like it did when JJ was drafted. It's fine to critique the pick... but holy nutsack people are letting their emotions get way ahead of them and are pretty much embarrassing themselves.

That being said... my line of thinking is exactly what some others have mentioned. It seems like the Cavs were VERY impressed with TT when they brought him in. They prob tried to trade down and get him at a later pick, but the trade with the Wizzys got botched somehow so they just went ahead and drafted him at number 4. That right there is really the only problem I had with the pick, it was a bit of a reach. Not a huge reach, but we could have gotten more value in return had the cards played our way. They didn't... so we just have to live with it.

Not mad with the pick at all. Sure he plays the same position as JJ...but you have to go with bpa and according to our board he was just that.

 

[David.]

You know, a lot of the people who get paid to watch these guys raved about Thompson. I'm going to keep trying to talk myself into Thompson.

im almost there, close enough to sleep tonight anyways... did kanter, JV, TT and williams all play competitively against each other? if they did, then I at least have some confidence behind this pick, along with hollinger's draft rater and the fact that we didnt see a whole lot of kanter or v besides youtube and both have holes in their game, and I have been hyped on both since this whole train wreck started.

 

[wuck]

They may have drafted the player they liked, but it certainly wasn't in the position of greatest need.

I don't think the Cavs can afford to draft for their greatest need, because they have so many. Whether he was the BPA, we'll see.

 

[CavsFaninNJ]

I feel completely vindicated by the pick tonight. I was in the Q when TT worked out from the Cavs. I watched for about 45 minutes the drills and sets they were running against several other top end prospects. That night I went home and told each and every one of my friends that based on what I saw that day I would take him over the other 5 people involved. I came to find out later that the Cavs focused on the interview process for hours. To me the interview is equally as valuable as a talent showcase. Exploring the psyche of a player along with their personality can be extremely telling. From the great things I have heard about how the interviews went I am certainly not shocked TT was picked at #4.

I'll admit that I have only read 4 pages of this thread but I am absolutely shocked that everyone is so negative about this pick. I come to question how much research these people really put in. I'm not saying his is a lock as a great player but its definitely a quality choice. Equal to or greater than picking Jonas V in my opinion.

My only question is how do you dump JJ hickson off after making it blatantly obviously he isn't in your long term plans?

thanks for that tidbit

nice to hear from someone how actually saw him work out

what was most impressive?