CosmoKramer
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Wait, were the Cavs a better defensive team with AB on the court?
A lower Defensive Rating is better, it measures the opponent's scoring.
Wait, were the Cavs a better defensive team with AB on the court?
A lower Defensive Rating is better, it measures the opponent's scoring.
So 109-110, would that mean that your description of Bennett's defense above is an exaggeration then?
The last 25 games or so Bennett played he was already better than Thompson is.
i've already completely bought in to the prospect of moving thompson. at this point it'll be a huge letdown if he's still around come training camp.TT's frame is actually rather unimpressive. Check out Bennett's frame. That's a guy who could weigh in at a dead-solid 260 in time. TT's size is fine where it is right now (good, but not great), but he really can't afford to put more weight on. He has shown that he gets a lot less athletic when he puts on weight. Bennett has that body where he can be bigger and faster than most power forwards. He'll be a great mismatch at that position. I don't think it's a stretch to think that Bennett will be better next season than TT has ever been. We can't afford to keep TT at any rate. He will be gone before the season starts, I suspect.
Bennett does need a lot of maturing to do, but our time to make big moves is this off-season. We need to make TT someone else's resigning issue and not our own. That's why he won't be here past this off-season. Bennett will fill in fine, I'm sure.
this.Let's put it this way... What does TT bring to the table? Nothing special or hard to find (energy, a big body, decent rebounding, hustle). You can find that almost anywhere, I mean for the money he wants it's just not worth extending him. I hope we just trade him this summer and get something basically out of nothing. Tristan is a great guy but he's just not going to be worth the money he gets. Sure, every team needs a guy like TT (hustle, energy off the bench) but we could find someone just as valuable for much cheaper.
Last 20 games of the season for Bennett:
16.9 MPG
7.0 PPG
4.2 RPG
.451 FG%
.360 3P%
.644 FT%
.517 TS%
+1 plus/minus (Cavs were outscored by 64 in these 20 games)
Per 36:
15.0 PTS
8.9 REB (2.7 OFF, 6.2 DEF)
1.0 3PTM
1.1 AST
1.0 STL
what's strange is how optimistic some people were for thompson going into his second, then third, seasons. at first it was "oh, second year, he's gonna make the jump!" then when that did not go so well it turned into "oh, third year and he's switching hands, NOW he's gonna make the jump!"Here are Bennett's stats for the last 20 games, which is when he rejoined the rotation and started playing better.
After seeing that, I don't don't know why it's crazy to be optimistic about what he can do next year. Tristan has been ok, but nothing special, and shouldn't we have high expectations for a guy entering his second season looking to get regular, extended minutes for the first time?
How would that bet possibly be determined? The subject of the better player is pretty subjective, even now we differ on who is better between Tristan and Derrick Williams. Should we take durability into consideration? AB missed more games in his lone rookie season (30) than Tristan's missed his entire three year career (5). I've long believed a player maintaining good health and adversely his availability is a valuable skill, you can't help the team while you're in street clothes.
I wouldn't argue AB would score more points in the same minutes, just that he'd give those points right back with subpar defense. For all the talk about his amazing defensive potential with all his size and length I've yet to see that manifest itself in positive ways defensively. He's never even been a mediocre defender in his 2 years in major basketball, can we slow the brakes on how great he can be on that end? I'd settle for mediocre next year, but that's pretty unrealistic. I'd be ecstatic if he could move his feet quick enough to stay in front of washed-up 36-year-olds.
You want to base it on PER? Best alternative I could think of. Tristan posted a PER of 16.1 his second season, I'll bet you $20 AB doesn't top that next year.
We should also add on Derrick Williams, who you keep pushing as a better player than TT as well, to bump it up to $40 in two separate bets.
I see Bennett being used off the Bench as a 2nd unit scorer as well as spending time at the three and the 4. if waiters can play 25% of his time at the three so can bennett.