Tristan Thompson: Initial Thoughts

[Pavlovic3Ball]

I read every post here, I would guess more than 80% of the people wanted JJ move because of what he does not do "play D". Now we draft a player to replace him that does what JJ can't do. How is that bad?

I think they are mad because 1. We passed on the BPA at 4. 2. PF was the least of our needs according to most. Personally, I am happy about the pick. I like JJ, but he is straight up dumbass that has no place having a vital part on a winning team. Sorry, I just don't see it. He is immature, has an extremely low bball IQ, and very inconsistent. Lwt some other team pay him 40-45 million to get you 30 wins a season.

 

[Triumph36]

Is it reasonable to think that the Cavs were projecting which players in that next group (at their position) would be the type of player that could be a reliable cog in winning an NBA finals in a few years? Would Jonas , someday, be able to outplay the other players in this league (at the center position) who are on teams projected to be Championship contenders over the next 5 years or so? I am having trouble seeing that happen. Would Brando Knight? I am also having trouble seeing that. Kyrie? I can see that happen. TT At HIS position I can see him doing what is necessary to win championships (D and rebounding and hustle). I think we just locked in two positions that can someday win an NBA title. Hopefully we can add one or two more next year.

There are a lottt of good PFs in the league so no, I don't think he "locked down his position." As a matter of fact, since the center position is fairly weak I think it'd be much easier for Jonas to outplay his matchup. Keep in mind though outplaying one matchup doesn't matter, and I'm not saying Jonas would avg 20/10 in the playoffs. He is in the Noah, Chandler, etc mold in that he'd benefit most from having a scoring PF next to him as well as a good PG.

TT would likely be going up against Randolph, Amare, Griffin, Love, J Smith, Bosh, Aldridge, Ibaka, etc assuming the Cavs don't contend fora couple years. That's a pretty damn tough group without even taking the future drafted PFs into consideration.

Rest of the ed piece of backstage with Derrick Williams at the draft here

lol

Are you seriously trying to justify not drafting a guy because he's 20 and not 18?

No?

Kouki said one of the reasons why TT might've been chosen is because he is the same age as Kyrie and they could develop together. I was simply pointing out that TT is old for his class and Jonas is actually closer to Kyrie's age.

I have many reasons for not drafting TT, the last of which is his age.

 

[BA_CavsFan]

Communication and comradarie are much more important than age. Even if we drafted a senior at 4, at least he would be able to speak English properly. I just can't imagine Kyrie and Jonas having much chemistry off the court, which is very important in the Cavs' new I'm-still-scared-of-free-agency philosophy.

 

[Kouki]

Communication and comradarie are much more important than age. Even if we drafted a senior at 4, at least he would be able to speak English properly. I just can't imagine Kyrie and Jonas having much chemistry off the court, which is very important in the Cavs' new I'm-still-scared-of-free-agency philosophy.

Yeah that's what I was saying with the age thing. Not that his AGE matters, but the situation. I posted this in the other thread cause I got my TT threads mixed up:

"And regarding the age thing...eh, I do think it is a pretty significant positive thing that TT is coming into the organization here and now with Kyrie. I can see Kyrie and TT growing together moreso than Kyrie and JV. All I'm saying."

The age number itself doesn't matter a lick...hell, I had a great time this afternoon drinking my ass off with old farts at the bar.

 

[Gimme Some Mo]

Thompson's Twitter....

http://twitter.com/RealTristan13

 

[The Voice]

I think they are mad because 1. We passed on the BPA at 4. 2. PF was the least of our needs according to most. Personally, I am happy about the pick. I like JJ, but he is straight up dumbass that has no place having a vital part on a winning team. Sorry, I just don't see it. He is immature, has an extremely low bball IQ, and very inconsistent. Lwt some other team pay him 40-45 million to get you 30 wins a season.

Who was the BPA?

Number 2 on your list doesn't correlate with number 1. How can you preach BPA then say we have too many PF's?

 

[kovanovich]

With a board name like "TheCongoKid" you should have caught the (admittedly obscure) point, because you might recall the rumor goes that we took Christian Eyenga with an eye on trading his rights to the Raptors (who as the rumor goes was trying to sneak him in to the 2nd round) to help get us Bosh.

Getting Thompson in Toronto, probably isn't anywhere on the scale for their fan base as it would be if Utah was able to draft Jimmer, but they have more reason than the Jazz to worry about losing fan interest. It's just possible Toronto is interested in Thompson and figures that under the right conditions that JV might be the bait they need to pry him loose from us.

In other words, they might not have been trying to ruin a potential deal we had in the works with the Bobcats, they might have been trying to force their way in to it.

Anyway, that's a lot of speculation and probably means nothing ... but I thought it was interesting to note.

There had been some talk in Raptors circles pre-draft as to whether the Raps should reach and draft Thompson, who is from the Toronto area. The Raps worked him out at least once. I thought it was pretty much idle chatter till the very end of the pre-draft process when Thompson suddenly started moving up the boards. By the time of the draft, it was clear Detroit wanted him at 8 and Charlotte's likely target in moving up to 7 was Thompson. I think Toronto may have been a possibility if Valanciunas had gone to Cleveland....However, post-draft chatter in Toronto mainly centers on why didn't we go with Knight or Kemba, or maybe Biyombo, not why don't we trade JV for TT. And pre-draft, it was Vesley that Chad Ford had linked with Toronto, while others had them going for a PG. I saw nothing to suggest that Colangelo was particularly keen on Thompson....And we've still not managed to trade Eyenga to Toronto...

 

[Pavlovic3Ball]

Who was the BPA?

Number 2 on your list doesn't correlate with number 1. How can you preach BPA then say we have too many PF's?

Im saying reasons why other people are upset with the draft. These aren't my own opinions. Pretty sure I made that clear with the first sentence. And im not preaching anything. Jonas was viewed as the BPA by many, and the Cavs passed on him for TT. Why do my two examples have to correlate? People are upset about this draft for many reasons. As for my own opinion, I liked the draft and wanted TT. The only thing I made my opinion about in the last posts were my feelings about Hickson.

 

[mAo_mAo]

[video=youtube;FZR42lOHs4c]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FZR42lOHs4c[/video]

At about the 1 minute mark he seems to be excited to be playing for the cavs. He will be fan favorite here.

 

[czvo]

[video=youtube;FZR42lOHs4c]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FZR42lOHs4c[/video]

At about the 1 minute mark he seems to be excited to be playing for the cavs. He will be fan favorite here.

I love how well spoken both of these kids are. I remember when LeBron was first drafted, and people raved about how polished he sounded in interviews for being such a young kid. I agreed, but there was always something a little off about his interviews. It was if they seemed rehearsed or manufactured. With Kyrie and Tristan, you can still tell they think about what they're going to say, but it really does seem genuine.

I don't know, maybe that's just me.

 

[Rist77]

[video=youtube;FZR42lOHs4c]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FZR42lOHs4c[/video]

At about the 1 minute mark he seems to be excited to be playing for the cavs. He will be fan favorite here.

It's ironic that a lot of young players followed or wanted to be like KG growing up and the one player most like him in to come around in some time (strictly from a talent perspsective), Perry Jones, wants to be like Kevin Durant.

 

[MDLT]

I love how well spoken both of these kids are. I remember when LeBron was first drafted, and people raved about how polished he sounded in interviews for being such a young kid. I agreed, but there was always something a little off about his interviews. It was if they seemed rehearsed or manufactured. With Kyrie and Tristan, you can still tell they think about what they're going to say, but it really does seem genuine.

I don't know, maybe that's just me.

I would definitely agree with that. Kyrie especially is smart and very well spoken; you can just tell he analyzes things well. James' interviews are really just combination of cliches that he rehashed over and over, regardless of the question/issue at hand - which is why I think he's made some mistakes in the media lately; just doesn't know how to handle a non-obvious question.

 

[Tornicade]

Charlotte, detroit, now Toronto for someone that some think wasnt worth taking at 4. there sure were alot of teams interested in him.

 

[Surge]

Thompson's Twitter....

http://twitter.com/RealTristan13

Ahhh snap he's friends with Colt McCoy... This changes EVERYTHING!!!

 

[Hydroponic3385]

I don't think this board would have been happy with ANY single player drafted at #4 (with the possible exception of Jonas). I think many of us were too unrealistically dead set on either 1) trading down to get two lower picks, including a nice lottery pick (Washington #6/18 for example) or 2) drafting someone at #4, and somehow working our way back into the mid 1st round or so to pick up another player. So since we didn't draft Jonas, and neither of those 2 other scenarios presented themselves, no one is happy (and it's not because of Thompson - the same thing would have happened with Vesely, Leonard, Biyombo, Knight, Morris twins, Klay Thompson, etc. going at #4). And to add salt to the wound, the Cavs didn't even take/keep a player at #32.

In the end, I think there was no pleasing most Cavs fans on this board...unless we took Jonas, and/or we had a total of 3 1st round picks somehow. Sorry this has nothing to do specifically with Thompson, but that's just the point...this overall sense of dissatisfaction would have been the same for essentially ANY player we drafted at #4 if we didn't add another 1st.