Indians Series Summary No. 4: L-W-L and gratitude for picture-in-picture
April 20, 2015The Franchise Quarterback: An unconventional approach to conventional wisdom
April 20, 2015After dealing with Cleveland fans debating his worth for three-plus seasons, Cavalier power forward Tristan Thompson silenced some doubters on Monday afternoon with news that he finished fifth in 2014-15 Sixth Man of the Year voting. Receiving six second-place votes and 15 third-place votes, Thompson finished behind Toronto’s Lou Williams and three others in getting recognition for individual production off of the bench.
Thompson had been dealt a bit of a rough hand coming in the season LeBron James departed in addition to being in the same draft class as young stars like his teammate Kyrie Irving, Golden State’s Klay Thompson and San Antonio’s Kawhi Leonard. The fourth overall pick, there were immediate expectations for the Texas product, most of which he was unable to live up to until this season.
Playing in all 82 games for the third time in as many years, Thompson stepped aside with the arrival of Kevin Love and flourished, averaging 8.4 points and 8.0 rebounds in limited minutes while proving to be the team’s most versatile defender by handling opposing big men as well as switching on smaller, quicker guards. While Williams and others amassed votes for their high-octane scoring efforts, it’s Thompson who led all bench players in rebounds, finishing amongst the top five in the NBA in offensive boards.
Failing to agree to a deal before this season, the 24-year-old Thompson will be a restricted free agent this upcoming summer. Playing a large role in many key victories, including the Cavaliers Game 1 win over the Boston Celtics on Sunday, he’s looking at quite the pay day—one that’s more than deserved.
From Brian Spaeth’s WFNY Newsletter (subscribe here, slackers) following Sunday’s win:
Pay this man in the offseason.
The Cavs need him, and this is his perfect NBA role.
To make an in-franchise comparison, he’s a different version of Hot Rod Williams—absolutely essential to winning, but not someone you could ever build a team around.
It makes his dollar value confusing, so for once, we should be glad Dan Gilbert is super rich.
“He’s a very valuable player to our team,” Irving said in a recent interview. “The things he does for us are hard to measure. We’re not the team we are without him. He’s that important to what we’re doing.”
6 Comments
His current role is the role I was calling for almost from the day he was drafted. His play this season means a hefty raise is coming, from someone, I’m interested in seeing how Griffin works out all of the financials. I’m guessing that if the season ends the way Cavaliers fans hope that Dan Gilbert will be more then happy to pay whatever it takes to bring back the same team.
Tristan’s rise this year has not been because of anything added to his game but rather the confluence of a more suitable role (where he often matches up with an opponent’s back up) and nightly hard effort. No matter how many puff pieces are written about him now, just last year he was regularly going consecutive games without effort, deadly for a player whose game is effort-based rather than skill-based.
The comparison to Hot Rod stops after them both being 6th man power forwards who could really rebound and play a little center. Hot Rod had a very decent offensive game from 10-15 feet in and therefore could start – Tristan does not have to be defended on offense and would be a liability as a starter. Hot Rod was a monster in his contract year, like Tristan, but once he got his huge money he never played as hard, nor was he as effective again. Tristan fits beautifully on this roster, where the attention to LeBron, Kyrie or Mozgov frees him for alley oops, put backs and offensive rebounds. But do the Cavs match absolutely any offer, even if some stupid GM offers him money commensurate with a starting power forward who also has an offensive game? I don’t quite get the sentiment that they have to match, no matter what. They’re better with him, but he’s not irreplaceable, especially if J.R. leaves and they need to max out Love.
I agree Hot Rod Williams all day over TT sorry. I’m still not sold you can’t replace TT with a combination of a drafted power forward and a free agent signing. Just for saving time I went with resigning him.
Their salary cap situation might make it tough to replace anybody in the first 8 guys without some other roster pain. It may make for a solid argument for overpaying Thompson. Somebody else could get crazy though, knowing the numbers shift downward in relative value in another year. (just like Kyrie’s max extension will look like a serious bargain soon)
Griffin will have his work cut out for him no doubt.
In idea your logic is sound but with the huge cap increases, there will be less replacement players available. They’d be better off signing him and then moving him later once he’s secured as an asset. Quality big men remain scarce and despite him not being a top 15 PF, he plays a lot of valuable minutes.