Tristan Thompson

[Cassity14]

Again, I don't think anybody has ever said Tristan's "ceiling" was going to put him in the conversation for the best power forward in the NBA. For the record, Aldridge was taken 2nd overall.

Personally, I think Tristan is a nice role player at power forward right now. Today. So he will never be an Aldridge; great, I don't think anybody ever said he would. He's going to get better.

Why this season is magically the best his outside shot or offensive ability or even defensive ability for the matter will be is beyond me. He can and will get better. He's gotten better every season since he was in high school. He's that kind of player. He's not going to let himself plateau. He's proven that. Is he going to put up 24 and 11? Nope. I'm sorry if my incorrect memory of Aldridge's development came off as that way. The point is he isn't done developing. Tell me you thought he'd be doing this right now after watching his rookie year, anyone.

 

[ajz20]

Again, I don't think anybody has ever said Tristan's "ceiling" was going to put him in the conversation for the best power forward in the NBA. For the record, Aldridge was taken 2nd overall.

Personally, I think Tristan is a nice role player at power forward right now. Today. So he will never be an Aldridge; great, I don't think anybody ever said he would. He's going to get better.

Why this season is magically the best his outside shot or offensive ability or even defensive ability for the matter will be is beyond me. He can and will get better. He's gotten better every season since he was in high school. He's that kind of player. He's not going to let himself plateau. He's proven that. Is he going to put up 24 and 11? Nope. I'm sorry if my incorrect memory of Aldridge's development came off as that way. The point is he isn't done developing. Tell me you thought he'd be doing this right now after watching his rookie year, anyone.

He will never get taller, and that is part of his problem finishing inside. The length of other big men really give him problems. I am sure he will get better, but he will never be a guy that you build around or go to in crunch time for a basket. Not tall or skilled enough. I dont see the upside you see.

 

[STAT]

He will never get taller, and that is part if his problem finishing inside. I am sure he will get better, but he will never be a guy that you build around or go to in crunch time for a basket. Not tall or skilled enough. I dont see the upside you see.

I don't think Cassity is explicitly stating what he believes Tristan's upside is, just trying to put pressure on the misguided claim that Tristan is more or less a finished product.

 

[MD13]

He will never get taller, and that is part of his problem finishing inside. The length of other big men really give him problems. I am sure he will get better, but he will never be a guy that you build around or go to in crunch time for a basket. Not tall or skilled enough. I dont see the upside you see.

I don't think it's his size that's the main problem with finishing inside, it's that he takes so long to gather and go up. He needs to go down and go up off two feet, he can't ever jump off of one and his vertical explosion off of a stand still is pretty pathetic. He's athletic but for some reason he just can't harness that in game.

 

[ajz20]

I don't think Cassity is explicitly stating what he believes Tristan's upside is, just trying to put pressure on the misguided claim that Tristan is more or less a finished product.

Finished product, perhaps not, but we are in year 3 here not 1. I dont think he is a great athlete at all, maybe a bit above average. I think 14 and 10 is it in my opinion long term. I will take that, but I dont want to over spend on him for his next contract. He is not a difference maker, so we need to be very careful with how much we pay him on his next deal. I like his personality and work ethic, just hope we cna get him for role player money, and that his agent does not ask for the moon, because he is not good enough to command big money.

 

[Futuredome]

TT is 3-4 years away from becoming a finished product. Heck, Zeller is not a finished product quite yet.

People love to break down TT's "flaws" without even understanding if he closes 1/2 of them, he is a all-star.

 

[EdMonix11]

TT is 3-4 years away from becoming a finished product. Heck, Zeller is not a finished product quite yet.

People love to break down TT's "flaws" without even understanding if he closes 1/2 of them, he is a all-star.

He doesn't have the basketball sense or natural instincts to drastically improve upon those flaws. He just doesn't have a great feel for the game-- he's too mechanical.

 

[Baseline Runner]

The more I think about it the more I realize that Tristan is a big part of what is holding this team back. He is one of a handful of starting fours that can't hit an open jump shot. No one is asking him to knock down threes like Kevin Love, but a four needs to be able to hit a jump shot in the league these days, otherwise defenses will be able to pack the paint. This, combined with his general lack of passing and handling skills makes him a liability on the offensive end.

Likewise, on defense, I have suspicions that he is one of the worst help defenders in the NBA. Too many times I see guards going straight down the lane getting easy layups with no rotation defense. I can't remember the last time I've seen him take a charge. While charges in and of themselves are not huge difference makers, a player who frequently draws them is a sign of a player who knows how to rotate on defense and position himself in the paint, a hugely important skill for a big man. Tristan just doesn't have that ability and in fact still seems to have no basketball smarts and court sense on either end of the court.

 

[Rich]

Finished product, perhaps not, but we are in year 3 here not 1. I dont think he is a great athlete at all, maybe a bit above average. I think 14 and 10 is it in my opinion long term. I will take that, but I dont want to over spend on him for his next contract. He is not a difference maker, so we need to be very careful with how much we pay him on his next deal. I like his personality and work ethic, just hope we cna get him for role player money, and that his agent does not ask for the moon, because he is not good enough to command big money.

He's worth whatever a team will pay him. If his agent asks for big money, and a team gives it to him, then he obviously just commanded big money.

 

[oasis05]

Thompson contract year should be next year and he should be showing progress in year 2 with his jumper. If he does he going to be looking at 10 million a year minimum. I have a hard time seeing the cavs keeping him having to sign Irving, Deng and find a replacement for varejao with waiters coming up for a decent contract himself soon . That's a lot of money coming due soon.

Edit- nevermind he's under contract next year, the year after he's got a qualifying offer so we should know for sure in year three of the arm switch whether he's become the lights out shooter to justify a big long term contract.

 

[oasis05]

Synergy has us the 30th ranked team scoring off of offensive rebounds. Doesn't bode well towards thompsons value given a big part of his contribution to the team is offensive rebounds the team doesn't cash in on.

 

[Mr. Blonde]

I'm starting to become disillusioned with him as a defender.

 

[Kouki]

Didn't see the game last night - passed out at 9PM after sleeping like two hours the night before. 32 points for Aldridge? He is an amazing player but I thought TT was supposed to be a good defender.

 

[SteelSmack]

Did TT guard him wrong? I felt like he did a pretty good job on him, forced him to take jumpers and get (mostly) nothing easy, Aldridge just hit his shots, can't do much about that. Aldridge only shot 46%.

 

[Rich]

Alridge with the freak long arms is just unguardle when the turnaround jumper is falling. Who can stop him fromhitting that shotwhen hes shooting it 18ft from the basket?