Tristan Thompson

[Derek]

Which is what exactly?

A smaller role. Right now he is asked to do too much by both himself, and the team. Get buckets off cuts, fastbreaks, and open putbacks. There's no reason for him to try and create for himself. He has no touch on his shot, but he is capable of being an efficient garbage man and energy defender/rebounder right now.

It's not good for his development to put him in a position to fail, which is exactly what we've been doing.

 

[falcon2294]

I still dont understand the logic of people who say he will never have a jump shot. Like I was in 5th when andy first came to the cavs. All he could do was bring energy and flop ( cant recall if he was any good at defense, I was 10 haha) But now look at his game, he can rebound, play defense, has a high BBIQ and score from the mid range. Look at TT now, he does everything andy did when he was young ( other than flopping) but a lot more athleticism and rebounding.

Right now the best thing imo for TT would be for him to play off the bench and be that energy player until he develops that mid range game . But sadly we cant do that because there is no one to put a head of him. If you like Andys game but want to get rid of TT, you must have a very short term memory.

 

[Derek]

Andy is not a good comparison for Tristan. Tristan will never have the IQ, feel, or touch around the basket that Andy has. Young Andy was rough around the edges, but he was a better player than Tristan is now in all aspects.

Now, Tristan is also capable of doing things athletically that Andy can't, but the two could not be more dissimilar when discussing how to project Tristan's development.

 

[falcon2294]

Andy is not a good comparison for Tristan. Tristan will never have the IQ, feel, or touch around the basket that Andy has.

Now, Tristan is also capable of doing things athletically that Andy can't, but the two could not be more dissimilar when discussing how to project Tristan's development.

I disgree, what makes you think he cant develop that touch around the rim? did andy not develop this? Also I think IQ can improve with age

 

[Numbers Guy]

I disgree, what makes you think he cant develop that touch around the rim? did andy not develop this? Also I think IQ can improve with age

The biggest thing about Andy is his ability to know where to be offensively. It's why LeBron and Andy had amazing chemistry as do Kyrie and Andy.

How many times have we seen Tristan bumping into the ball handler off pick and rolls or just in awkward spots?

 

[Derek]

I disgree, what makes you think he cant develop that touch around the rim? did andy not develop this? Also I think IQ can improve with age

Andy has always had good touch around the rim. That's why he's managed to be fairly efficient in that area despite his lack of athleticism. He's also always been a very intelligent player, that's what has allowed him to further evolve as a player.

Tristan is not a high IQ player. He needs to figure out a different way to be successful, because Andy's path is not for him.

 

[Lee]

I think people are just starting to realize the consequences of Tristan's shortcomings. For most of last year, and well into this year, I would argue that Tristan was one of the most highly appreciated Cavaliers.

With increased talent on the team, it's clear that TT is being miscast in his current role. Most people see this and say he sucks. I see this and say, let's get him in the right role.

We needed to put him as the first pf off the bench and management should have forced the issue. MB doesnt care about future contracts, but allowing TT to start all year has inflated his numbers and inflated his contract and self worth.

Now i actually like TT. He is a decently talented lunch pail type of guy. Great for bench player getting 25 mins a game or so playing against other reserves.

Now we might be stuck with his agent asking for that stupid 12 mil a year number. Bigger problem is that someone might be stupid enough to pay it, i just hope its not the cavs. He is a 6-8 mil a year guy, and on a well constructed team he is a 10/6 guy off the bench. Kind of like a scola type for the pacers (although a completely different skill set), but same minutes, same place in rotation.

 

[CosmoKramer]

A smaller role. Right now he is asked to do too much by both himself, and the team. Get buckets off cuts, fastbreaks, and open putbacks. There's no reason for him to try and create for himself. He has no touch on his shot, but he is capable of being an efficient garbage man and energy defender/rebounder right now.

It's not good for his development to put him in a position to fail, which is exactly what we've been doing.

Completely disagree on this, I don't think he's asked to shoulder much of an offensive role. How often is he asked to create offense for himself? I'd guess 2-3 times a game, and that's being generous. Most of his shots come from putbacks and dunk attempts, garbage man stuff.

I question saying he's being put in a position to fail, he's slowly been given more possessions to expand his low post game. He's almost always the 4th or 5th option on offense, how's that too big of a role?

 

[Cavatt]

You guys are rewriting history. AV did not have his great touch around the rim coming into the league. Av has a peculiar learning curve where he just keeps developing. It was when he was "chosen 2" that he really got that 2 man game going well. 2009 or so. He was not that player on the 2007 finals team.

He was 27 before he showed a jump shot.

If Tristan has the same learning curve he will be an allstar at 25. He started ahead of Av in offensive ability believe it or not.

 

[DELONTEizDad]

I don't get the continued love for Tristan.

He's a decent rebounder while his D is a little worse than that.... and that's about it. Can't really create his own shot with any sort of regularity.

Even for a solely "garbage guy" though his rebounding and D aren't spectacular. Combine that with him screwing up a LOT of easy points and not being able to go up strong I'm not sure where or how he fits.

I see him as a JAG or really just kind of "meh." Maybe I'm taking him for granted but if you got a real defensive presence there who can go up quick and strong on offense I think we'd look a whole lot better as a team. He's a real candidate for addition by subtraction.

My guess is he gets thrown in as part of a trade this offseason.

 

[Kizzle]

TT isn't a starting caliber player on a playoff team period.

But hes definitely the 1st big off the bench on ANY team

 

[Cassity14]

I don't get the continued love for Tristan.

He's a decent rebounder while his D is a little worse than that.... and that's about it. Can't really create his own shot with any sort of regularity.

Even for a solely "garbage guy" though his rebounding and D aren't spectacular. Combine that with him screwing up a LOT of easy points and not being able to go up strong I'm not sure where or how he fits.

I see him as a JAG or really just kind of "meh." Maybe I'm taking him for granted but if you got a real defensive presence there who can go up quick and strong on offense I think we'd look a whole lot better as a team. He's a real candidate for addition by subtraction.

My guess is he gets thrown in as part of a trade this offseason.

Tristan Thompson is one of the best offensive rebounders in the NBA. He's a very good defensive rebounder. His motor is right up there with anybody in the league. I get you aren't a fan of his, but by all means, don't come here spewing bullshit to make yourself sound smarter.

The issue with Tristan right now has been said multiple times in here already: it's his basketball iq. Guys like Varejao, Deng, even Hawes find ways to get easy looks by simply reading what the defense is doing and reacting. It's kind of what the offense is built on. TT sticks completely to the script and often gets in the way. He looks like he's thinking 100% of the time rather than acting. He takes 2 seconds to gather up for an open dunk for TT right now. He's never been a quick leaper per se, but he's never been this bad. Hell, his rookie year he dunked better than he has since.

His lack of iq-related moves right now not only costs him buckets and looks, but it costs others as well because he's bumping into them and/or giving his man an opportunity to guard two people at once. Will that develop? Hopefully. In my opinion, that's more important than a jumpshot.

He's a very, very good rebounder. Not decent. He isn't the shot blocker that he was in college and was expected to be in the NBA. That's a huge bummer. He's a pretty good 1v1 defender. I'd call him a decent (at worst) post defender, but a very good switch defender off of the pick and roll. He's one of the quicker bigs when it comes to guarding guys off of switches I can think of.

Right now, at this instant, TT could be a very good 3rd big for a good team. San Antonio comes to mind as a team that would love to use his motor. Golden State would probably love to have him as well.

The reason TT gets a lot of support on this board is his motor and work ethic. He works his fucking tail off on and off the court. As I said before, his motor is crazy high. He just dominated the glass against the Pacers(!) the other day. When he got dominated against Memphis, tons of people were quick to call it out. Against the Pacers, stuff like "I don't get the love for TT" is posted.

Am I calling Tristan a great player or future all-star? No. He's already a quality rotation player who has a place in this league. I'm very curious to see what kind of extension talks go on this summer. What does Tristan want? What do the Cavs want? I'd start somewhere around 3 years, 18 million if I'm the Cavs. He could definitely be included in a package in a trade.

How many issues have come out of the locker room because of Tristan? How much on court chemistry has he disrupted? By all accounts, is he not a class act and wonderful teammate? It sure seems like it. Those guys aren't as easy to find as we'd like to believe. TT is one of them.

It's not that difficult to find value in Tristan even if he's not flavor of the month around here.

 

[CardiacCavs]

Yeah, I don't know how, at this point, someone could say that TT's rebounding skills are anything but elite. The guy regularly racks up 10+ rebound games against tough competition. Against a front court of Hibbert and West he gobbled up 16 rebounds, more than both of them combined (West had only 4! , Hibbert had 7). Yeah, he has a lot of work to do, but you have to at least give him credit on his rebounding ability.

 

[DELONTEizDad]

Tristan Thompson is one of the best offensive rebounders in the NBA. He's a very good defensive rebounder. His motor is right up there with anybody in the league. I get you aren't a fan of his, but by all means, don't come here spewing bullshit to make yourself sound smarter.

The issue with Tristan right now has been said multiple times in here already: it's his basketball iq. Guys like Varejao, Deng, even Hawes find ways to get easy looks by simply reading what the defense is doing and reacting. It's kind of what the offense is built on. TT sticks completely to the script and often gets in the way. He looks like he's thinking 100% of the time rather than acting. He takes 2 seconds to gather up for an open dunk for TT right now. He's never been a quick leaper per se, but he's never been this bad. Hell, his rookie year he dunked better than he has since.

His lack of iq-related moves right now not only costs him buckets and looks, but it costs others as well because he's bumping into them and/or giving his man an opportunity to guard two people at once. Will that develop? Hopefully. In my opinion, that's more important than a jumpshot.

He's a very, very good rebounder. Not decent. He isn't the shot blocker that he was in college and was expected to be in the NBA. That's a huge bummer. He's a pretty good 1v1 defender. I'd call him a decent (at worst) post defender, but a very good switch defender off of the pick and roll. He's one of the quicker bigs when it comes to guarding guys off of switches I can think of.

Right now, at this instant, TT could be a very good 3rd big for a good team. San Antonio comes to mind as a team that would love to use his motor. Golden State would probably love to have him as well.

The reason TT gets a lot of support on this board is his motor and work ethic. He works his fucking tail off on and off the court. As I said before, his motor is crazy high. He just dominated the glass against the Pacers(!) the other day. When he got dominated against Memphis, tons of people were quick to call it out. Against the Pacers, stuff like "I don't get the love for TT" is posted.

Am I calling Tristan a great player or future all-star? No. He's already a quality rotation player who has a place in this league. I'm very curious to see what kind of extension talks go on this summer. What does Tristan want? What do the Cavs want? I'd start somewhere around 3 years, 18 million if I'm the Cavs. He could definitely be included in a package in a trade.

How many issues have come out of the locker room because of Tristan? How much on court chemistry has he disrupted? By all accounts, is he not a class act and wonderful teammate? It sure seems like it. Those guys aren't as easy to find as we'd like to believe. TT is one of them.

It's not that difficult to find value in Tristan even if he's not flavor of the month around here.

He's border top 20 in RPG, 0.1 better than Mr.'s J.J. Hickson and Greg Monroe. Hardly "spewing bullshit", Mrs. Thompson.

Off court issues? "Buddy ball" was about him. Some pointed the finger recently at him when it came to talk out of the locker room of bigs being concerned more about stats than team play.... so a decent amount. Your boy ain't a saint.

Your argument points to an above average rebounder, and decent defender who can't block shots or go up strong/quick around the hoop on offense. Also a pretty good amount of distraction off the court. Not that great.... I'm glad you see a "high motor" and "great work ethic" though.

 

[Pioneer10]

For me, his Free throw improvement is so great, and shows that he actually has some touch with his right hand. I am pretty confident he will develop a jumper, it is just a matter of when. I'd like to see him focus on a 10-12 footer first a lot like Mcdyess.

It really would open up his game a lot. He has got to stop gathering himself and go up quick. He is capable, he just needs reminding.

Is he a starter? He can definitely handle it. It really depends on his continued development and Bennett's as well. Too hard to predict right now. I think Tristan is on the right track. The fact his whole season wasn't ruined due to the hand change makes it a success in my book.

I think people defending Tristan and criticizing people about using too much hyperbole should take a step back and think about statements like this. McDyess could jump thru the roof both on and off the basketball court (Tristan's explosiveness doesn't translate into games nearly as well) and McDyess skyrocketed up the draft charts because he showed that patented turn around jump shot during Alabama's surprising tournament run that year. I've never Tristan move anywhere as close to as fluidly on an offensive move to make me think of McDyess either with the jumper or in the post. This doesn't mean Tristan is a bad player, far from it, but he's looked better the last few games because the team and him aren't asking him to do anything more then what his strengths are (garbage points off offensive boards, alley-oops). When the team tried involving him pick and roll and the likes before hand, it was a disaster not only doesn't he have the range but he also can't finish off one leg strong if he's rolls inside.

Yes he's improved his FT shot but on offense, I haven't seen any indication that he's going to develop an offensive repertoire that is going to be good enough for us to design a significant offensive plays for him each game.