Tristan Thompson

[CavsWillBeBack]

Hey guys, so its 12:50am here in Melbourne and I can't sleep. Instead, I went and threw together a worksheet on Tristan's preseason performances.

• The blue bar is his average over the course of the 8 games played.
• Stats per 31.3mins represents his preseasons stats when extrapolated to reflect his average minutes played last season
• I presented his stats for the previous campaign.
• Compared results of the extrapolated pre-season stats with the stats for the previous season
• Stats per 36minutes

How does he compare to other players around the league?

The ONLY player to post 15+ points, 11+ Rebounds, 1 Block, 1 Steal was Dwight Howard.

Just bear in mind, pre-season is still quite a small sample size and the level of talent is not indicative of the quality of regular season games, but the initial impressions look very promising.

TL;DR If Tristan played like he did in preseason WITH last seasons minutes he will be averaging 15.3 points, 11.1 rebounds, 0.9 steals, 0.9 blocks, 2.1 TO's, 2.6 PF's. The only player to equal or better those stats last season was Dwight Howard.

*If anyone finds any faults just tell me and I'll get it fixed asap.

 

[Douglar]

*If anyone finds any faults just tell me and I'll get it fixed asap.

17.6 points and 12.8 rebound per 36? If that caries over, that means he's going to have to play 41 minutes a game to be a 20/10 guy. I don't see Brown playing him over 32 minutes a game. So he's going have to get a lot better at shooting to get his 20/10 average.

 

[Jack Brickman]

I just love how Tristian was at first draw comprasion to Ben Wallace in the beginning and now Al Horford:chuckles: ?
work ethic matters

I don't know about anyone else here, but if Tristan became prime Ben Wallace I'd be ecstatic. Ben Wallace was one of the greatest defensive big men of all time. Hell, I'd rather have prime Ben Wallace than prime Al Horford.

 

[Frank Reynolds]

Agree Jack, when we first got him that is the mold of player I pictured him becoming. Defender/garbage man.

His scoring ability can't be denied. Ben was nowhere close to being as effective on offense as Tristan.

I also think Tristan has quicker/better feet than Big Ben.

Ben was obviously a human oxen in terms of his strength, and his shot blocking timing was otherworldly. Thompson has the hops, the length and the quickness to block shots like that, it just doesn't come as naturally to him.

Shit, we thought he'd never develop into an offensive player, we thought he'd never be able to shoot..... I wouldn't put anything past him, even blocking shots like Big Ben.

I don't think he'll ever be as muscular, that much we can say for certain about Thompson. Big Ben could have easily filled in for Carl Weathers in the initial handshake scene of Predator between Dylan (Carl Weathers) and Dutch (Schwarzenegger). That's how jacked Ben was, he could have been cast in predator.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Douglar]

I don't know about anyone else here, but if Tristan became prime Ben Wallace I'd be ecstatic. Ben Wallace was one of the greatest defensive big men of all time. Hell, I'd rather have prime Ben Wallace than prime Al Horford.

Ben Wallace comparisons are almost always a result of someone following this logic:
1) Player A can't shoot and is under 6'10"
2) Ben Wallace, a once in a generation defensive talent, was undersized & couldn't shoot
3) Player A should be able to be a once in a generation defensive talent

That logic leaves out that Ben Wallace had a lot of other attributes (like the preternatural ability to avoid fouls, great jumping, and had a level of court awareness that was kind of spooky), that allowed him to be a functional NBA player even though he couldn't shoot.

That's almost as bothersome as the Paul Pierce comparisons that go like this:
1) Player B is not very athletic and doesn't have a single outstanding skill
2) Paul Pierce, a successful NBA player, was not a top NBA athlete and frequently filled out box scores evenly in a lot of different categories
3) Player B could be a successful NBA player

These days I just pretend that people don't make comparisons to Ben Wallace or Paul Pierce, because both of those players had skill sets that are extremely tough to emulate.

 

[Dylan Windler's Mom]

So if Tristan keeps this up and becomes a top 5 pf in the future. What the hell are we going to do with Anthony Bennett?

 

[cavsfanclanman]

So if Tristan keeps this up and becomes a top 5 pf in the future. What the hell are we going to do with Anthony Bennett?

If that's the biggest problem we have in the future. I think we should all be very happy about it.

 

[Derek]

So if Tristan keeps this up and becomes a top 5 pf in the future. What the hell are we going to do with Anthony Bennett?

I know, right? It would suck to have multiple big men capable of playing at a high level.

 

[bigfoot5415]

So if Tristan keeps this up and becomes a top 5 pf in the future. What the hell are we going to do with Anthony Bennett?

I think one day...he will lose the needed weight and be able to play SF for 15 or so minutes. The other 15 will be at PF backing up TT. He will be our scoring punch with the 2nd unit (but get the start at SF). He is roughly the same height & weighs a little more than Melo. Once the weight is dropped, I think he will be the same speed and can be hidden with good team defense.

 

[Douglar]

So if Tristan keeps this up and becomes a top 5 pf in the future. What the hell are we going to do with Anthony Bennett?

That's a good one. I think the question "What do we do if Bynum doesn't work out, Varejao gets injured, and Benett is a sloppy rookie" is a much more pressing question. Good teams teams need a solid 4 man front court rotation. The Cavs might only have 1 dependable front court player this year.

 

[blommen]

Trade Bennett for a SF that can actually play basketball.

 

[aaronr]

Agree with Douglar. I think the Cavs could be very good in the backcourt if Dion lives up to his billing and Kyrie plays a modicum of defense. Irving, Waiters and Jack could be one of the best backcourts in the league. But if Bynum and/or Varejao get hurt, which is par for them, then the problems begin to cascade. Tristan will be forced to play substantial minutes at center instead of power forward, and Bennett hasn't shown he'd be capable of taking over those minutes at power forward. That implies that Clark would have to play minutes at power forward, not his forte, which in turn would mean more of Gee than is desirable. So let's hope the coaches can develop Irving and Waiters and the gods are kind to Bynum and Varejao.

 

[EdMonix11]

So if Tristan keeps this up and becomes a top 5 pf in the future. What the hell are we going to do with Anthony Bennett?

If TT becomes a top 5 power forward, why on earth couldn't he play center then? Everyone says he's about 6'10" now so I don't really see an issue with playing time for Bennett and Thompson......

 

[KI4MVP]

So if Tristan keeps this up and becomes a top 5 pf in the future. What the hell are we going to do with Anthony Bennett?

Is that somehow supposed to be a problem? I don't think management would view it that way. For example, Kyrie is top 5 pg, that didn't stop us from signing jack.

 

[Triplethreat]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>Tristan is ripping 3 pointers at end of practice today. From a lefty who couldn't hit from 8 feet to a stretch 4?</p>&mdash; Jason Lloyd (@JasonLloydABJ) <a href="https://twitter.com/JasonLloydABJ/statuses/395253294807121921">October 29, 2013</a></blockquote>
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