Tristan Thompson is starting to get it.

[MiseryCityTexas]

tristan is purposely playing good just to solidify varejao being outta there in a trade.i would not be shocked if he starts playing like crap again as soon as anderson is traded.

[cavsfanatic]

he hasn't been getting blocked and is dunking now. seems like a different player without Andy. I never seen somebody his size get blocked so much.

[chips93]

he is still bringing the ball down, and taking too long to gather himself, when finishing around the hoop, instead of just going straight up, (gibson got a good block on him last night, in that exact scenario, but it was called a foul), but he has come a long way offensively.

he was going right at the bulls frontline, one of the best in the league, and finishing pretty well. its nice to see him getting touches on the block again. he wasnt getting any earlier in the year.

his co.fidence appears to be at an all time high, and hes playing with more toughness. its great to see.

[DukeDelonte13]

he is still bringing the ball down, and taking too long to gather himself, when finishing around the hoop, instead of just going straight up, (gibson got a good block on him last night, in that exact scenario, but it was called a foul), but he has come a long way offensively.

he was going right at the bulls frontline, one of the best in the league, and finishing pretty well. its nice to see him getting touches on the block again. he wasnt getting any earlier in the year.

his co.fidence appears to be at an all time high, and hes playing with more toughness. its great to see.

all that and he's only 21/22. He has a lot of upside still. He was a solid pick.

[chips93]

all that and he's only 21/22. He has a lot of upside still. He was a solid pick.

yeah a solid pick, esp when you look at the guys picked after him, vesely, valanciunas, biyombo. none of those guys are doing much better, and considering vapanciunas apparently didnt wanna come to cleveland, as of right now, it was the right pick.

[RedBlackAttack]

not impressed...someone has to get those boards with Andy out

I'm sure there is some of that going on and there's no doubt Anderson eats up almost all of the rebounding opportunities when he is on the floor. I guess I could see how someone could come to that conclusion if they are simply looking at the boxscores after each game and not watching.

However, for those of us who have actually watched Tristan his first year+ in the NBA and have watched in the 10 games Varejao has been out, the improvement is absolutely dramatic. There has been a massive leap.

[NattyPButter]

Only reason AV got high rebounding numbers because he would always TT he got the ball when both were going for the ball at the same time. I noticed last night they took Boozer off of TT and stuck Noah on him in the 3rd qt. that has to say something

[RedBlackAttack]

UPDATE

Tristan had another tremendous game tonight, posting 11 points, 14 rebounds (6 offensive), 2 assists, 2 steals and 1 block.


Here are his updated gamelogs since Varejao has been out...

@Boston - 11 points, 12 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 blocks, 2 steals
Indiana - 12 points, 13 rebounds, 2 blocks
@Milwaukee - 14 points, 14 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 block
@Washington - 15 points, 12 rebounds, 1 block
Atlanta - 8 points, 8 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 block
@Brooklyn - 17 points, 15 rebounds, 1 assist, 2 blocks
Sacramento - 9 points, 13 rebounds
@Charlotte - 19 points, 13 rebounds, 2 assists
Houston - 14 points, 16 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 block, 1 steal
@Chicago - 14 points, 8 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 block, 1 steal
Atlanta - 11 points, 14 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals, 1 block

Averages:

13.3 points on 50% FG, 73.3% FT
12.4 rebounds (4.6 offensive)
1.2 assists
1.1 blocks
0.4 steals
11 games
36.0 minutes

[Big Cheese]

of course another frontcourt player having a good game against our soft ass bigs.

[hon]

Thompson and MasSacre will be the starting bigs for Canada...

[MichaelCheazley]

Thompson and MasSacre will be the starting bigs for Canada...

Pls Go....

[Thorpesaurous]

The increased rebound rate may be a bit of a red herring. Someone coined this the Kevin Gamble theory when I was a kid. Gamble was a mediocre player for the Celtics in the abysmal era after the big three retired and Reggie Lewis had died. The team was terrible, but Gamble had a couple nice seasons and pushed 20ppg one year. But the point is if you're playing an NBA game, a certain number of points, rebounds, etc., are just gonna happen, and if you're the guy out there, then you very well may end up accumulating points. It's sort of the good numbers on a bad team kind of a thing.

However, I do like the kid. And he seems like a good fit. One thing you want if you're building around an end changing PG are athletic bigs who can get out and run. Most people think you want wings to run with, but almost all wings can run, so it's hard to get a huge advantage. Bigs on the other hand you can get an edge with a lot easier. Take those old Suns teams. They took two of the best end to end SF and PFs in the league, and moved them to PF and C, going from having a fast team end to end, to a rediculously fast one. If Thompson can play center, then that would be the ideal fit.
I'm not sure he can. Actually with his athleticism, I'm not sure it's impossible for them to eventually run some super big sets with him at SF, because he may be able to defend on the perimeter just enough to get by for 10 - 12 minutes a night. Have they experimented with a Thompson/Varejao/Zeller front line?
In the current league, it would be wildly unconventional, but at the same time with the league trending small, you could get a boost in short stretches, particularly with how good a help defender Varajeo is, and if Thompson could masquerade on the perimeter.

All said, moving Varajeo is the way to go. They should've moved him before the injury. He'd never played better. You'd be selling at the highest of highs, and the future of the front line is dependent on Thompson, and it would be worthwhile to see what Zeller has, who I liked coming in too.

[No_Look604]

Thompson and MasSacre will be the starting bigs for Canada...

Hellz yeah! Go Canada! Wait up for Wiggins!

PS - That first picture is hilarious...it's like the defining moment when Steve Nash tells Canada he's done as a player. Look at Coach's reaction with his hand out "wtf?"

[DirkNowitzki41]

beast.

[RedBlackAttack]

Very interesting post, Thorp. Let me address your points, one-by-one, since only me and a few others have actually watched all Cavs games this year (and last year).

The increased rebound rate may be a bit of a red herring. Someone coined this the Kevin Gamble theory when I was a kid. Gamble was a mediocre player for the Celtics in the abysmal era after the big three retired and Reggie Lewis had died. The team was terrible, but Gamble had a couple nice seasons and pushed 20ppg one year. But the point is if you're playing an NBA game, a certain number of points, rebounds, etc., are just gonna happen, and if you're the guy out there, then you very well may end up accumulating points. It's sort of the good numbers on a bad team kind of a thing.

Like I said in an above post, I can see why people who just see the boxscores and don't watch the actual games may come to this conclusion. And, yes, there is truth to the idea that someone needs to do the scoring and someone needs to do the rebounding.

However, let me go through the points which make Thompson's case a bit of a different one. First, you addressed the rebounding as the red hearing. Even with Varejao on the floor and even when his minutes were cut, it was pretty obvious that Thompson's best trait is his ability on the glass, at least at this point in his career.

Prior to Varejao being injured, Thompson was averaging 8 rebounds in 29 minutes a night. That is not a bad rebounding rate at all, especially for a guy being forced to play a different kind of game with a redundant Andy on the floor and only in his second season at 21.

I don't think there has ever been much question about Thompson's skill on the boards. I've felt all along that he has had the ability to eventually be an elite rebounder in the league.

Secondly, you look at his offensive rebounding rate since Varejao went down.... He is averaging 4.7 offensive rebounds a night (in 35.8 minutes). I don't know if that leads the league in this span of 11 games, but I'd be surprised if there was someone averaging more. Defensive rebounds can be shrugged off as a "someone has to get them" kind of scenario. Offensive rebounds are different. Those are second-chance possessions that players have to fight and scratch to get. And, 4.7 a night is an amazing number, even over just 11 games.

Thirdly, while Kevin Gamble played a bigger role in the offense with Reggie Lewis gone and his overall numbers may have increased, his efficiency dropped.

Thompson has gone from averaging 8.3 points on 46.6% from the field and 55% from the line with Varejao to 13.1 points on 50% from the field and 71% from the line without him. He just looks so much more confident and comfortable, it goes well beyond the numbers even.

However, I do like the kid. And he seems like a good fit. One thing you want if you're building around an end changing PG are athletic bigs who can get out and run. Most people think you want wings to run with, but almost all wings can run, so it's hard to get a huge advantage. Bigs on the other hand you can get an edge with a lot easier. Take those old Suns teams. They took two of the best end to end SF and PFs in the league, and moved them to PF and C, going from having a fast team end to end, to a rediculously fast one. If Thompson can play center, then that would be the ideal fit.
I'm not sure he can. Actually with his athleticism, I'm not sure it's impossible for them to eventually run some super big sets with him at SF, because he may be able to defend on the perimeter just enough to get by for 10 - 12 minutes a night. Have they experimented with a Thompson/Varejao/Zeller front line?
In the current league, it would be wildly unconventional, but at the same time with the league trending small, you could get a boost in short stretches, particularly with how good a help defender Varajeo is, and if Thompson could masquerade on the perimeter.

Interesting proposition. I can't specifically remember them going to that lineup at any point this year, though I would be sort of surprised if they didn't since those guys are probably three of our best five players.

Thompson has been playing a great deal of center lately with mostly success. He has had his struggles against legitimately 7-foot, offensively skilled centers... Though, fortunately, those are few and far between in today's league. Brook Lopez dominated him on that end of the floor.

But, then again, Tristan also played well offensively in that game. I think Thompson's length and athletic ability should allow him to play center for stretches without much of a problem in a league that has gone away from the conventional center.

He has also shown to be a pretty good P&R defender, which would bode well for maybe the team going to that big lineup you mentioned for short stretches. Of course, the 3 spot in today's league is so filled with explosively athletic talent, I'm not sure it could be a really consistent thing against most teams.

All said, moving Varajeo is the way to go. They should've moved him before the injury. He'd never played better. You'd be selling at the highest of highs, and the future of the front line is dependent on Thompson, and it would be worthwhile to see what Zeller has, who I liked coming in too.

I feel like Zeller has had a really nice rookie season. You mentioned how it would be good to have athletic bigs on the floor with Kyrie who could run the floor... That is maybe Zeller's best trait and he will beat an entire defense down the floor off of a miss at least a couple times a night.

Right now, I'm not sure if he will be a starting caliber player on a really good team, or an excellent big off the bench on a really good team... But, either way, those are things young, rebuilding teams will eventually need.

I think you will be able to spot what the front office thinks about Tyler with how they approach this year's draft. There is an abundance of big guys who will likely be on the board and we will almost certainly have at least one very high pick. If the pick is Cody Zeller, Alex Len, Nerlens Noel, etc., that probably means Tyler is going to be used in a backup capacity. If their target is Shabazz Mohammad or Alex Poythress, that probably means they are happy with Tyler's progress as a potential starting option.