Tricky Dicks
September 23, 2014Padres were selling Johnny Manziel jerseys
September 23, 2014It appeared to be a given that the Cleveland Cavaliers would move Tristan Thompson to the bench following the arrival of Kevin Love, but this may not exactly be the case. Jason Lloyd of the Akron Beacon-Journal leads off a column by saying Thompson, longtime friend of LeBron James, could slot in as a 6-foot-9-inch center while the taller, older Anderson Varejao comes off of the bench in a reserve capacity.
Don’t rule out the possibility of Tristan Thompson starting at center. While it has been widely assumed Anderson Varejao would start in the middle, a theory has been floated within the organization recently that by starting Thompson, coach David Blatt could better limit Varejao’s minutes and help protect him from injury. There is plenty of time to make that final decision, but it’s worth noting the idea has at least been discussed.
Regardless of whether he starts, Thompson is expected to play a lot of minutes at center this season. He is undersized there, but athletic enough to handle the job. He has played there off and on throughout his first three years in the league.
While athletic enough to potentially handle the job, Thompson allowed opposing centers to produce a PER of 22.1 (compared to 16.5 at power forward) in 2013-14. His defensive efficiency was an incredible 124.3 (and a net of -28.9) in the small sample size of playing at the “five.” This move would be intriguing as it would prove to be the exact opposite of the “rim protecting big” fans have heard so much about in the wake of the team acquiring James and Love.
Lloyd also discussed the impending contract negotiations which reportedly have yet to begin. It’s believed that Thompson, regardless of role, will start by asking for a Derrick Favors-type deal that begins at four years and $49 million. Lloyd mentions the remote possibility of Thompson going the Greg Monroe route and testing free agency, but reminds us all that it is very unlikely to happen thanks to a certain small forward with incredible amounts of leverage.
13 Comments
I guess that’s the small price to pay for having LeBron come back. His suped-up entourage is back too. This feels like a move made purely to appease Rich Paul as there really isn’t much of a basketball reason to do it. Oh well, I am happy for winning basketball again. I’ll turn a blind eye. And LeBron makes everyone on the floor with him better at everything… right?
At the moment, Thompson doesn’t deserve half of Favors’ deal. He can go sign that deal with Philly if he’s about the money.
well, that is the thing. it just mentions that it was discussed. the roster, as presently constructed, will be having Thompson spend some time at center as he is sadly the 2nd best center on the roster (if we do not include LeBron & Marion is too old to handle playing there for short stints).
note, I do not think he should or will actually start ahead of Varejao unless it is specifically for a matchup purpose.
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digging more into Thompson’s time at C v. PF:
Offense
about the same = eFG%, Blk
better at center = eFG%, FTA, Ast, T/O
worse at center = Rb, PF
Defense
about the same = T/O
better at center = Ast, PF
worse at center = eFG%, FTA, Rb, Blk
Pretty much what you would expect for an undersized center. Now, the big question is if he can improve in any of those areas with the team around him.
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Udonis Haslem had a pretty similar PER difference between PF/C but was much worse on offense.
I’ll believe this when I see it. Is it a possibility, of course but it makes no sense especially if the opponent has a center who is a real center. I realize of course there aren’t a lot of teams who have a real center i.e. 6’11”-7’1’1″ 220-250 lbs. but still Thompson is to soft to play the middle. The one thing I like is trying to save Varejao. Unfortunately the Cavaliers are low on reasonable replacements for the middle at the moment. Which means more of a team defense concept. It will be interesting to see what happens. I like Thompson off the bench myself with Delavadova, Waiters, Marion, Jones and Haywood.
I heard that thought on a podcast today… about how the league is mostly undersized centers and it made me stop to think. I’d have to say that at least half the team have a center 6’11” or taller who I wouldn’t call undersized. Off the top of my head: Marc Gasol, DeAndre Jordan, Plumlee’s (either), Lopez’s (either), Hibbert, Perkins,
I’m sure it’ll be a fluid situation like what mgbode expressed in his comment. Like I said though I like the idea of saving Varejao as much as possible. Lets see if Haywood can contribute anything. If he can just play defense I mean get in the way and rebound that’s all he needs to do off the bench. Lets also hope for as many blowout victories as possible because that’ll mean less minutes for the important guys.
Yeah I was being a bit over-dramatic. It’s just that I could easily see a situation where LeBron/Paul are able to push the Cavs organization to get their guy TT into the starting lineup to increase his value, but I also think that if he stinks in that role, he won’t stay there long. LeBron won’t have a season’s worth of patience. Tristan is certainly young enough where he can improve enough as a defender to make this idea not terrible though, so we’ll see what happens.
Completely agree, I do like the idea of saving Varejao a bit. I am very interested to see what Haywood has left in the tank. He didn’t play at all last season and didn’t play well the season before that, so it’s been 3 years since his last decent contribution. I am hoping for a renaissance.
I’m impressed with all those algebraic stats you threw out there, but there’s one stat I don’t see. Maybe it’s there, but I don’t understand all those letters. Any rate, I read an article earlier this summer which states both Wild thing and TT do very well and that’s not allowing would be scorers to get close to the basket. So if there’s no one to get to the rim, I don’t think a rim protector is that big of an issue. Sorry I don’t have a link.
i have to think they are gonna showcase him and his versatility early in the season so that they can get SOMETHING for him in February (or just as soon as a deal materializes). I know he is tough to trade because of his contract status, but maybe a contender would give up a second rounder for him.
time will tell…..
Plumlee’s what?
(couldn’t resist)
Save Varejao
http://preview.images.memegenerator.net/Instance/Preview?imageID=11704755&generatorTypeID=&panels=&text0=&text1=Save%20Varejao&text2=&text3=
I can’t think of a single basketball skill that Tristan performs better than Andy (unless you count durability as a skill). If Tristan does not suddenly improve dramatically, Andy should start, and can do so while still playing reduced minutes. As we go deeper into the playoffs, Andy’s starter minutes would increase since this is the thing we would be saving him for. All of the starter’s minutes would also increase, and minutes for guys like Tristan would decrease simply because our best chance to win it all is by having our best players on the floor as much as possible. Also, I’d want our best players to learn how to play together during the regular season.
As for Tristan’s value, his play last season was not even close to a 12M per year level. If he improves enough this season to actually be worth that, great. If not let him go on tour as an RFA next year so he can get a heavy dose of reality.