Tristan Thompson

[Kovah]

He is starting to fumble passes, something like JJ Hickson always did.

I get that he has little girl hands, but that wasnt a problem before now. Even the pass from CJ to TT when Tristan had 4-5 steps on Gibson on our break, you can Tristan doesnt catch the ball cleanly, kinda bobbles but had enough lead on Gibson to not be contested when he went up with two.

Why is he starting to fumble passes? Is it mental?

Probably since KI or our team in general never has much ball movement he's daydreaming, "Okay more MB iso, I'll just stand here by the basket. I wonder what's for dinner? Gosh, Kyrie made me drink a lot last night. Can't believe Bynum made me watch him bang our coaches wife. I wonder if I'll get taller this year. Was Karasev serious about Russian Roullette tonight----HOLY FUCK the ball is coming my way. wtf should I do!"

Joking aside, can just be a bad stretch, but I never thought TT was a great catcher in the post. You can even see him try and drive in the paint and lose the ball occasionally with his bunny hopping to the basket.

 

[oasis05]

As a shooter it's a bad thing when you know you are going to miss.

 

[JFT]

I am not talking specifically about one game. I was referring to him as a player. I don't think he has to be an all-star and I never have said what his ceiling should be. All I want is to see actually basketball moves when he has the ball and to make correct cuts. It happens to much on our team in general the lack of basketball understanding and I mentioned that at the end of my previous post I was in the mood to vent.

I love the hustle that TT brings to a game, I just want to see development in his ability to score in the post when he is isolated. The NBA is a joke when it comes to defense, if he can put the time in and get some quality post moves his ability to score will improve greatly. In terms of cutting to the basket, that should be second nature and done without a thought. The sad thing is with AAU and this piss poor fundamentals in the NBA that part of the game has started to go away. I will be the first to admit that the Cavs passing is terrible and the isolation bull crap offense they run doesnt help, I am just hoping for more improvement and I am confident it will come, I just needed a good vent.

Give me a break. He's what 21 and it's his 3rd year. Heck, he's already a double-double. Give it another 4 years and then take a look.

 

[Nathan S]

It's the first time in a while I've seen ESPN mention a Cavs player in a positive context, so I figure it's worth a mention:

Under-the-radar NBA leaders
Which high-performing players aren't getting enough credit this season?

Tristan Thompson | PF | Cleveland Cavaliers
Notable stat: Fifth in offensive rebounds

When we think of the game's top offensive rebounders, names like Dwight Howard, Kevin Love and Joakim Noah come to mind. These are relentless rim guys who have size, strength and, in Love's case, an amazing feel for where the ball is going.

This season, however, Thompson has more total offensive rebounds than all of them. He does an impressive job in two areas: he either runs right to the front of the rim and just waits for the miss or he quickly moves in between the man guarding him and the rim when he anticipates the shot being taken. He then lowers his hips and maneuvers into a position that makes it hard for his defender to move him away from the rim. It sounds simple but it requires effort and a willingness to get hit from all sides.

On defense, most bigs in this position try to push their man under the rim, where the only rebound to get is the one that falls through the net (thus no rebound at all), but Thompson's lower-body strength and those lowered hips make him very hard to push. From that point he can rely on his ability to tip or catch the missed shot with his long arms totally outstretched, showing excellent hand-eye coordination. Just 22 years old, there is still a ton of growth left in his game.

-David Thorpe

 

[Fuggles]

Isn't David Thorpe the guy who thinks Waiters should have been a late first round pick?

TTs growth has been steady but really not spectacular. Not the kind of guy to get national attention.

Which I like because I am hoping we can extend him on the cheap He is going to just get better and better while he will never enter top 5 PF talk I can see him getting in that 6-10 range.

 

[Len]

Isn't David Thorpe the guy who thinks Waiters should have been a late first round pick?

TTs growth has been steady but really not spectacular. Not the kind of guy to get national attention.

Which I like because I am hoping we can extend him on the cheap He is going to just get better and better while he will never enter top 5 PF talk I can see him getting in that 6-10 range.

I've always said that. I think the Cavs Front Office is trying to finagle ways to sign TT and Dion cheap. They obviously aren't on Kyrie's level and both Do Not deserve anything near max money. I feel as putting Dion to the bench is a subtle way to decrease his value when resigning. Same goes with TT. I always thought there was an alterative long term motive with these two players.

Guess only time will tell.

 

[ajz20]

Looks very very average

 

[Pioneer10]

He has a lot of trouble against athletic and long PF's. Guys like Davis and Gibson have read the scouting report and refuse to come out and guard him on the perimeter. Tristan doesn't trust his jumpshot so after he bricks an early jumper, he then tries to take them off the dribble. He telegraphs what he is going to do way too early so against quality defenders who play off of him, they have plenty of time and space to see what he is going to do and reject/alter the shot.

It's a real problem for this team as guys like Irving and Dion create a lot of midrange jumpshots opportunities for bigs secondary to penetration but right now Tristan doesn't exploit this advantage for us.

 

[rabman_gold]

This is a crazy thought... Why not try him at a later point at Small Forward? He's at least got the size and length there but would be forced to adjust him game a lot. He would need either a lot of shooters or at least get a mid ranger of his own. Kinda like Josh Smith?

Again, I have no idea how it helps, but the power forwards in today's game have too much length and shooting over the top. So put him on a shorter guy instead?

Just an innocent opinion...

 

[elcheato]

He has a lot of trouble against athletic and long PF's. Guys like Davis and Gibson have read the scouting report and refuse to come out and guard him on the perimeter. Tristan doesn't trust his jumpshot so after he bricks an early jumper, he then tries to take them off the dribble. He telegraphs what he is going to do way too early so against quality defenders who play off of him, they have plenty of time and space to see what he is going to do and reject/alter the shot.

It's a real problem for this team as guys like Irving and Dion create a lot of midrange jumpshots opportunities for bigs secondary to penetration but right now Tristan doesn't exploit this advantage for us.

To be fair to Tristan (even though I also think he's pretty average), who doesn't struggle more against athletic and long defenders? Obviously you're going to worse against more athletic guys who have a pulse defensively.

Tristan is a good glue guy who could make a really good first big off the bench, but the truth of the matter is, he's a center in a PF's body, and the Cavs aren't going to start him at center.

 

[Jack Brickman]

To look at it another way, between Thompson, Zeller, and Bennett, we might have the makings of a very nice three-man big rotation going forward, especially when you consider that any of the three can play together.

 

[CosmoKramer]

This is a crazy thought... Why not try him at a later point at Small Forward? He's at least got the size and length there but would be forced to adjust him game a lot. He would need either a lot of shooters or at least get a mid ranger of his own. Kinda like Josh Smith?

Again, I have no idea how it helps, but the power forwards in today's game have too much length and shooting over the top. So put him on a shorter guy instead?

Just an innocent opinion...

Tristan doesn't have the perimeter game to play small forward. As we learned with Alonzo Gee you can't have a small forward that poses no threat to a defense.

TT can guard most small forwards in the NBA, ones with elite quickness (George, LeBron) would eat him alive out there though.

 

[Pioneer10]

This is a crazy thought... Why not try him at a later point at Small Forward? He's at least got the size and length there but would be forced to adjust him game a lot. He would need either a lot of shooters or at least get a mid ranger of his own. Kinda like Josh Smith?

Again, I have no idea how it helps, but the power forwards in today's game have too much length and shooting over the top. So put him on a shorter guy instead?

Just an innocent opinion...

Seriously? It looks you were having second thoughts even while you were writing this which is a good thing. Tristan causes enough floor spacing issues as a PF imagine him at SF sitting at the 3 point line. God help us all when Mike Brown decides to run an AV, Sims, TT frontcourt.

 

[Spencer Hawes]

This is a crazy thought... Why not try him at a later point at Small Forward? He's at least got the size and length there but would be forced to adjust him game a lot. He would need either a lot of shooters or at least get a mid ranger of his own. Kinda like Josh Smith?

Again, I have no idea how it helps, but the power forwards in today's game have too much length and shooting over the top. So put him on a shorter guy instead?

Just an innocent opinion...

My innocent response is....hell to the no. :chuckles:

 

[Bob Loblaw]

To look at it another way, between Thompson, Zeller, and Bennett, we might have the makings of a very nice three-man big rotation going forward, especially when you consider that any of the three can play together.

That takes a whole lot of projection. I see Thompson as a role player(4th or 5th best starter or backup) on a contender, Zeller as potentially a good backup(if he can gain some consistency with his current level of play) and Bennett as a total unknown. So even if Bennett reaches his potential, we're still short a good center for the long term. Ideally we'd add Embiid but I wouldn't let any of these guys stop us from adding a really good PF or C.