Tristan Thompson

[Nathan S]

I'm not overly concerned about his offense. We all knew that the hand switch was going to be a short-term loss in terms of overall offensive ability in return for, hopefully, a long-term gain, and it turned out to be exactly that. What I'm worried about is his defense, where he's gone from a shot blocking menace in college to a complete non-factor in the NBA. While with his offense is developing according to plan (although it's a very unorthodox plan), his defense may actually be regressing, and it's not totally clear why. His scoring, passing, and rebounding numbers are all around what they were in college, but he's averaging half as many steals and one sixth as many blocks. His gradual progress on offense is meaningless if he continues to be a liability defensively.

 

[TwoPistols]

I'm curious to see what Tristan's WARP is? I can't seem to find it and it looks like you need Insider.

I'd rather have Cory Jefferson than Tristan. You could get Cory Jefferson with a 2nd round pick. There are so many PFs that bring more to the table than Tristan. I don't even think he's worth what he's making on his rookie contract right now.

 

[Nathan S]

I'm curious to see what Tristan's WARP is? I can't seem to find it and it looks like you need Insider.

I'd rather have Cory Jefferson than Tristan. You could get Cory Jefferson with a 2nd round pick. There are so many PFs that bring more to the table than Tristan. I don't even think he's worth what he's making on his rookie contract right now.

GotBuckets' plus/minus based calculation gives him 1.9 wins added, and Shutupandjam's box score based calculation gives him 4.4 wins added. The reality is probably somewhere between those two numbers (which, given how many minutes he played this season, is pretty disappointing but not completely awful).

 

[narbar32]

That depends. If you want someone to play on your team right now, you take Hawes. If you are judging on the whole picture, age, contract, perceived value, then you take Thompson.

The problem is that this question is ultimately useless, I think.

Hawes or Thompson? Who cares? Neither matter in the grand scheme of things. Neither will be the difference between contending or not.

Maybe the Cavs will someday be title contenders and still have use for an outside shooting threat at PF/C who doesn't offer much in the way of defense and/or a defensively adequate, solid rebounding PF who can give a starter a break off the bench and use up some fouls without killing the team entirely... but it won't matter if either of those guys are named Hawes or Thompson.

 

[CornerThree]

I am just glad that Chris Grant is gone because I have a feeling his ultimate interpretation of TT's value was going to be incompatible with what any decent eye test shows.

As far as to his worth, I guess I don't totally think it's off base to think that you can get similar value from a late first round pick or by trying other current players on our roster at PF. Tristan has basically been given minutes that he never really earned and this obviously makes him look better than he is. Hell, it appears right now that taking Karasev(Is this russian for "bench bound"?) instead of Dieng looks stupid because Dieng provides skills that our team is sorely lacking.

 

[fat_jed]

I think I just saw Tristan Thompson watching the Dallas Spurs Game. Hope he's getting some inspiration from Timmy and Dirk.

 

[EdMonix11]

I'm not overly concerned about his offense. We all knew that the hand switch was going to be a short-term loss in terms of overall offensive ability in return for, hopefully, a long-term gain, and it turned out to be exactly that. What I'm worried about is his defense, where he's gone from a shot blocking menace in college to a complete non-factor in the NBA. While with his offense is developing according to plan (although it's a very unorthodox plan), his defense may actually be regressing, and it's not totally clear why. His scoring, passing, and rebounding numbers are all around what they were in college, but he's averaging half as many steals and one sixth as many blocks. His gradual progress on offense is meaningless if he continues to be a liability defensively.

It all stems from his lack of basketball IQ. He doesn't recognize patterns, he doesn't anticipate plays. He's very unnatural looking out there-- he's reactive, not proactive. I could live with his lack of offense if he was making positive energy plays away from the ball on offense and on defense, but he isn't. I'm pretty confident we'll be moving on from him.

 

[tristan+kyrie=$]

In Amicos chat today everything he is hearing is that TT will be traded this offseason

 

[Just Checkin]

Out of all our players I'm least worried about Tristan being the player who suddenly blossomed after leaving the Cavs.

It's just a damn shame that he is just so mechanical in his movements offensively and he never really lived up to the defensive potential in the manner that was initially imagined (shot blocking) around that time in the draft.

Good rebounder though and his knack for offensive rebounding certainly fits the mold of this current roster and their affinity for bricks.

 

[mcfly]

More than anything, I just want to see Bennett getting enough minutes at the 4 so that we can get a better picture of what he brings to the table. AB looks like he could be the third dynamic scorer that this team would need going forward, and hopefully he will at least be able to hold his own on the other end of the floor.

I would be interested in retaining Thompson, but as a backup to the 4 and 5 who can spot start when needed. Maybe he would show more on the offensive end after continued work, but I am not interested in relying on that in order for this team to move forward.

 

[CosmoKramer]

In Amicos chat today everything he is hearing is that TT will be traded this offseason

I'm going to refrain from complaining about any potential trade before I see who we're getting in return, but if Griffin gets the job TT is almost certainly a goner.

 

[cavfanintexas]

I'm going to refrain from complaining about any potential trade before I see who we're getting in return, but if Griffin gets the job TT is almost certainly a goner.

I guess we see something in TT other don't, just hope we get something good in return.

 

[Cashius X]

Gotta clear up room for Bennett.

 

[StuDiscus]

Love T Squared but I think Bennett can and will become the better all around player..

That said I wish there was a way to keep both, and still see them develop together.
My heart says "yes", my head says "no you idiot".

 

[brownindian]

I guess we see something in TT other

You mean a bad draft pick for the position?