Tristan Thompson

Birdy89 said:

He has had professional coaching for over a year now (with a full off-season) and potentially looks more woeful on offense now than ever.

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That's not true, he looked absolutely clueless on offense in his rookie season. I've seen improvement from him on that side of the ball, I still think he has a chance to make something of himself. Dude is a project, people need to realize this. If he was on a good team he would be playing limited minutes and just asked to defend and rebound. Because he is on a young rebuilding team he is getting heavy minutes and is trying to work on his game during actual games, he's obviously going to struggle for a while.

Birdy89 said:

He brings a Rodman/Wallace level of offensive skill to the game without the Rodman/Wallace level of defense/rebounding.

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Keep in mind, nether Rodman nor Wallace were in the NBA at Tristan's age, and neither of them showed what they would become until much later.

Tristan is playing more minutes this season, but his usage rate is much lower. In the past 3 games he's attempted 13 shots while grabbing 10 offensive rebounds. So subtract the putback attempts, and that doesn't leave many actual scoring chances. On top of that he's been much more willing to pass the ball. In other words, he's not getting much of a chance to improve his game and learn on the job this season. Rather limits him to practices on days off, and whatever individual sessions he can schedule with the coaches. If someone would actually pressure him for his minutes, it might do him a world of good to not go to the bench, but go to the NBADL for a couple of weeks where he might get the opportunity to work on his offense as an actual option in an offense.

What you need to ask yourself is that when you draft a big with only 1yr of NCAA experience - that you knew going in was going to be a project - how long do you wait on him?

+/- .vs. Pacers on back to back:

Tristan: -2
Tyler: -14
Kyrie: -20
Tristan playing without Kyrie: +5

But hey, let's not draw conclusions based on one game.

Goldin Brown said:

That's not true, he looked absolutely clueless on offense in his rookie season. I've seen improvement from him on that side of the ball, I still think he has a chance to make something of himself. Dude is a project, people need to realize this. If he was on a good team he would be playing limited minutes and just asked to defend and rebound. Because he is on a young rebuilding team he is getting heavy minutes and is trying to work on his game during actual games, he's obviously going to struggle for a while.

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Improvement in what.

Birdy89 said:

He has had professional coaching for over a year now (with a full off-season) and potentially looks more woeful on offense now than ever.

How is that possible?

He brings a Rodman/Wallace level of offensive skill to the game without the Rodman/Wallace level of defense/rebounding.

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Yes, because Rodman and Wallace came into the league as all-world defenders. Please.

BimboColesHair said:

I've said this enough, but my feelings still remain, he is not as terrible as people here make him out to be. Yes, he is bad on offense, but that's not the only side of the ball you play on. His rebounding, especially defensively, is much better, he blocks out better, and he just looks better on defense this year all around. He still gets young guy bullshit calls on him, but he is still a solid post defender. Offensively, well, I pray he visits Moron Mountain this off season and gets some help from the Monstars cause dude has a long way to go.

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Your description after the statement in bold seems fairly accurate as to what people here make him out to be, for the most part.

He's a big enough body who provides solid, though certainly not yet stellar, defense and rebounding with little to offer offensively, such general lack of offensive skill being compounded by his weakness in doing the one thing that young, athletic, offensively raw/unskilled bigs are often able to do effectively on offense -- that is, successfully performing the "slam dunk shot" when finding themselves at the rim with possession and congestion.

Maybe that doesn't necessarily warrant the degree of disappointment in his ability/value/development thus far that often gets conveyed around here (certainly including myself in that), but I don't think it warrants any confident projections of him being some major piece of a championship contender eventually, either, especially if such talk is based upon imputing additions and repairs to his game that can only be discussed because of his youth.

And that's the goal that forms the basis of any of these discussions, right... a Title in Cleveland.

narbar32 said:

Your description after the statement in bold seems fairly accurate as to what people here make him out to be, for the most part.

He's a big enough body who provides solid, though certainly not yet stellar, defense and rebounding with little to offer offensively, such general lack of offensive skill being compounded by his weakness in doing the one thing that young, athletic, offensively raw/unskilled bigs are often able to do effectively on offense -- that is, successfully performing the "slam dunk shot" when finding themselves at the rim with possession and congestion.

Maybe that doesn't necessarily warrant the degree of disappointment in his ability/value/development thus far that often gets conveyed around here (certainly including myself in that), but I don't think it warrants any confident projections of him being some major piece of a championship contender eventually, either, especially if such talk is based upon imputing additions and repairs to his game that can only be discussed because of his youth.

And that's the goal that forms the basis of any of these discussions, right... a Title in Cleveland.

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perhaps it would do some fans well to focus less on a title and more on the team being respectable again.

Tornicade said:

perhaps it would do some fans well to focus less on a title and more on the team being respectable again.

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Yeah, some people forget that you have to walk before you can run. This team is still crawling, but we're crawling hard.

MYoung23 said:

Improvement in what.

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Well for one, he's getting rid of the ball when he should whereas last season if he got the ball he was going to take a shot come hell or high water.
His footwork around the basket has improved.
He has gotten stronger.
He reacting quicker instead of hesitating.


If you really are going to act like Tristan hasn't gotten better from last year you must not be paying attention. What did you really expect out of him offensively this year? The guy is raw and its going to take him some time to learn to have that touch around the basket. The cavs didn't draft him to be a low post scoring option, they drafted him for his rebounding and defense.

I have not seen any improvement offensively, at all. I will say he has greatly improved his defensive rebounding.

It was nice to hear Byron come out and say what he wants and needs for Tristan to do on the air. It might allow fans to cool it a bit about expectations offensively for the kid.

I've said it before and i'll say it again. When you don't get plays ran for you, it tends to interupt your offensive flow. He doesn't deserve plays ran for him, mind you...but if we wanted him to have a better feel for that side of the ball, we should involve him more on that side. The biggest improvement i've seen out of his game this season is the willingness to move the ball when he's passing the ball up top.

The kid was an absolute black hole on offense last year, just would not pass the ball. He understands his role better this year. As others have said he is moving the ball when he should and functioning a bit better in the offense. Last season, if he had the ball he was faking one way, going the other and getting stuffed at the rim. This year he is playing much more under control, you don't see him forcing as much. He still pretty much sucks at finishing in traffic, but I think he is getting a better feel for what types of shot he needs to be taking. He's making baby steps, but at least he is making steps.

Goldin Brown said:

The kid was an absolute black hole on offense last year, just would not pass the ball. He understands his role better this year. As others have said he is moving the ball when he should and functioning a bit better in the offense. Last season, if he had the ball he was faking one way, going the other and getting stuffed at the rim. This year he is playing much more under control, you don't see him forcing as much. He still pretty much sucks at finishing in traffic, but I think he is getting a better feel for what types of shot he needs to be taking. He's making baby steps, but at least he is making steps.

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TT shot too much last year, this year he doesn't shoot enough. It is good that at least he is able to change his game from one season to the next, even if he isn't better this year.

When TT was drafted it seems to me the consensus among people who know basketball was that he'd be a 3,4 or even 5 year project before he would mature as a player and come into his own.

Now I come here and see people crucifying him because he hasn't gotten to that maturity level in a little over a year.

People need to chill and learn some patience.

buzzdog said:

When TT was drafted it seems to me the consensus among people who know basketball was that he'd be a 3,4 or even 5 year project before he would mature as a player and come into his own.

Now I come here and see people crucifying him because he hasn't gotten to that maturity level in a little over a year.

People need to chill and learn some patience.

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I think some of it is because we don't want to be disappointed by high picks not turning into at least above average players. And if they don't LOOK good out there, nor have any impressive stats, that's as far as they look. I guess people are fixated on getting a team of good players over getting a double-cross super star, but let's face it. This is the path Grant chose, and whether or not Thompson stays with us, he at least going to have a better career than the other half of this current roster.

But we still are missing a future big man and a future starting swingman. You can't observe every game under a stethoscope for Thompson, or you'll only see byte-sized pieces of promise. I can guarantee even if he never looks natural, he will have a spot in this league, because he is the hard-working type.

pr26 said:

I have not seen any improvement offensively, at all. I will say he has greatly improved his defensive rebounding.

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Actually, I think his passing has improved from last year. Course, it had no where to go but up.