Tristan Thompson

[Rich]

Hey, he had his coach send him out there to fail against the Knicks. I'm not surprised if he's in the process of giving up on Brown.

 

[Spencer Hawes]

If you take a poll of who has more talent between TT and Dion, I think most would say Dion hands down. Brown made Dion come off the bench, I don't know why he can't do the same with TT. Once Bennett is ready to go, start him already. It's so frustrating to see how Brown coaches. He's the kind of coach who tries to win with the best player AT THAT TIME as oppose to trying to win in the long term. Like what Phil and Pops do. They understand player development occurs in the regular season and it's just as important as winning if not more because you can make mistakes in the regular season and continue to play but if you're players are making mistakes in the playoffs, you're gonna get eliminated. That's like common sense to any coach but Potato Head.

TT was suppose to be a defensive presence. He's not anymore. Taj Gibson comes off the bench and is twice the defensive player TT is. Let the #1 draft pick with the better set of offensive skills start and develop and let TT practice that jumper in practice and after practice if he's not willing to pull the trigger in game.

 

[chrisrich91]

I don't understand how anyone can advocate starting Bennett over TT unless we're actively tanking (news flash: we're not). He can't go a minute without a careless foul or a terrible shot. He's the worst defender on the team. His lack of effort on that end is worse than Kyrie, and we're not asking him to shoulder our offense. TT's perfect role right now might be 3rd big off the bench but that's unrealistic for this team, especially with Andy missing time.

First of all, "actively tanking" means nothing for our team. The season is dead. We're going to lose a ton of games whether we'd like to or not.

Second. Bennett does commit some careless fouls and takes the occasional bad shot. But he's absolutely not the worst defender on the team (even though he SHOULD be, given his rookie big man status along with his lack of any NBA experience thus far). His lack of effort on D is worse than Kyrie? You're either blind or just not very good at recognizing this type of thing. None of Bennett's issues stem from effort. Say it with me, people. Jesus that's an annoyingly misguided argument.

I could argue that the team plays better with Bennett at the 4 than Tristan. AND that's even with Bennett still making a ton of rookie mistakes, some of which could have been ironed out weeks ago if not for Mike Brown's stupid ass.

I went from liking TT and believing in his upside to laughing at how overrated he is by some fans. Dude is a JAG. Ship him out if someone still overvalues him.

 

[CosmoKramer]

First of all, "actively tanking" means nothing for our team. The season is dead. We're going to lose a ton of games whether we'd like to or not.

Second. Bennett does commit some careless fouls and takes the occasional bad shot. But he's absolutely not the worst defender on the team (even though he SHOULD be, given his rookie big man status along with his lack of any NBA experience thus far). His lack of effort on D is worse than Kyrie? You're either blind or just not very good at recognizing this type of thing. None of Bennett's issues stem from effort. Say it with me, people. Jesus that's an annoyingly misguided argument.

I could argue that the team plays better with Bennett at the 4 than Tristan. AND that's even with Bennett still making a ton of rookie mistakes, some of which could have been ironed out weeks ago if not for Mike Brown's stupid ass.

I went from liking TT and believing in his upside to laughing at how overrated he is by some fans. Dude is a JAG. Ship him out if someone still overvalues him.

I'm not nearly as ready to write off this year as you are. As long as Andy comes back soon enough we still have enough time to close the gap and make the playoffs.

AB not the worst defender on the team? Please, he's clearly lost on that end of the floor. He plays like his feet are in quicksand, players go around him like he's not even there. Kyrie at least gives effort during the initial action, he's terrible at getting around picks and rotating on ball reversals.

You can call me blind but I'm not the one arguing AB's out there hustling. That's your own misguided opinion, almost as bad as thinking the team is better with him in over TT. But really, you can make that argument? Because no stats can back you up on that one.

 

[Spencer Hawes]

I'm not nearly as ready to write off this year as you are. As long as Andy comes back soon enough we still have enough time to close the gap and make the playoffs.

AB not the worst defender on the team? Please, he's clearly lost on that end of the floor. He plays like his feet are in quicksand, players go around him like he's not even there. Kyrie at least gives effort during the initial action, he's terrible at getting around picks and rotating on ball reversals.

You can call me blind but I'm not the one arguing AB's out there hustling. That's your own misguided opinion, almost as bad as thinking the team is better with him in over TT. But really, you can make that argument? Because no stats can back you up on that one.

So we're pinning on hopes on making the playoffs and player development on Andy? How many "healthy" good years does he have left? I would be surprised if he's not moved by the trade deadline. This team probably needs to rebuild again or trade some of our "assets" to in order to move forward. Right now, it's a clusterfuck. Either choose AB or TT. You cannot have both playing heavy starters minutes together unless TT miraculously turns into Ben Wallace overnight.

 

[KI4MVP]

I'm not nearly as ready to write off this year as you are. As long as Andy comes back soon enough we still have enough time to close the gap and make the playoffs.

AB not the worst defender on the team? Please, he's clearly lost on that end of the floor. He plays like his feet are in quicksand, players go around him like he's not even there. Kyrie at least gives effort during the initial action, he's terrible at getting around picks and rotating on ball reversals.

You can call me blind but I'm not the one arguing AB's out there hustling. That's your own misguided opinion, almost as bad as thinking the team is better with him in over TT. But really, you can make that argument? Because no stats can back you up on that one.

he was the only big we had who could guard Davis.

 

[falcon2294]

Part of me was sort of looking forward to seeing how he would do without Andy. And he has looked terrible. Granted against some front lines with Chandler, Howard, and Davis. But I thought he might really loosen up out there. Doesn't seem to be the case.

Has he given up on the jumper?

he didnt look good against them..... but they are top 5 centers

 

[czvo]

Watching this kid continually get the ball under the basket then take 5 seconds to gather himself/bully people out of the way for an open look is getting really old.

Wasn't he supposed to be "explosive" coming out of college? Maybe I'm not remembering correctly, but I thought his explosiveness was a strong point?

 

[ice cream man]

Watching this kid continually get the ball under the basket then take 5 seconds to gather himself/bully people out of the way for an open look is getting really old.

I will say that he is not getting nearly as many good looks as he got last year. How many opportunities for the push shot has he gotten in the past month? He's lucky if he shoots one a game. This has gotta be a combination between Mike Brown's shitty system and the selfishness of our ball-handlers.

 

[CornerThree]

Are there stats available that show how many times a guy's shot got blocked? Who is second in the league behind Tristan.

 

[Norm]

Are there stats available that show how many times a guy's shot got blocked? Who is second in the league behind Tristan.

Tristan, I believe, is 1st, 2nd and 3rd in that category.....lol. I'd love to see a trade to bring in a PF to start ahead of TT and relegate him to the 1st big off bench playing combo of PF/C. Think he'd be better off there until he develops a good consistent outside shot.

 

[Cassity14]

Seeing him go at the trade deadline is really going to test my patience as a fan. This guy is going to be a key cog in multiple deep playoff runs one way or another. He's about to get traded just to get Waiters off the team.

Really hope I'm wrong.

 

[Bob Loblaw]

Are there stats available that show how many times a guy's shot got blocked? Who is second in the league behind Tristan.

Here are the per game stats. He is 5th overall in total BLKA.

nba.com BLKA stats

BTW, NBA.com's stats site is amazing, you can choose all the fields you want and then generate an image of the stats.

 

[mcfly]

5th worse rate, 7th worst overall.

 

[chrisrich91]

Seeing him go at the trade deadline is really going to test my patience as a fan. This guy is going to be a key cog in multiple deep playoff runs one way or another. He's about to get traded just to get Waiters off the team.

Really hope I'm wrong.

Way more upset about Waiters getting shipped out.

I truly believe that if we get Tristan out of the rotation (after an adjustment period of course) we will start to see some improved play from the team. Andy would go back to his monstrous rebounding ways instead of he and Tristan just sharing the load, Bennett and Clark would get all the PF minutes for the time being, and the spacing would be superb at all times. I am NOT saying Clark is a better player than Tristan. I am saying that the team would collectively play better with a shooting PF on the floor at all times instead of a lane killer like Tristan.

I'm someone who isn't impressed by Tristan's SINGLE elite skill: offensive rebounding...he seems to get most of them because he is disregarded by the guy defending him, which means he doesn't have a body on him after missed shots by the Cavs. Leads to easier offensive rebounds. So is this really a good thing? We're sacrificing spacing and fit on the floor for a few extra offensive rebounds to provide extra possessions to our broken/nonspaced offense. Meh.

But at the end of the day Tristan probably won't be moved because he's such a boy scout and also the LeBron connection. And that upsets me.