Player Fact: In the spirit of American Olympics. Tristan Thompson cannot play for our American team because he is Canadian. Actually he was drafted higher in the NBA than any other Canadian player in history.
When the Name of Tristan Thompson came up in last years draft for my beloved Cavaliers my exact reaction was jaw dropping to say the least. After a year of watching the him play from the bench. my reaction was "I want to see more"
The Cleveland Cavaliers drafted Tristan Thompson - PF - out of Texas at #4 overall in 2011 his rookie year he averaged 8.2 PPG and 6.5 RPG.
The jury is still out for me with my verdict on Tristan. I left last season interested to see what a full off season of work would do for him (Remember the NBA was on strike last year.) Keeping in mind those stats above were based on him playing off the bench behind veteran Antawn Jamison for the entire rookie year.
My instinct tells me he will end up mostly like a Serge Ibaka (OKC) type player. Defensive beast, offensively raw, good for a teams rotation and can contribute well enough.
The Oklahoma City Thunder drafted Serge Ibaka - PF - out of Republic of the Congo at #24 in 2008 after three years in the league he averaged a career 8.5 PPG and 6.9 RPG.
I think this comparison is a fair expectation of what kind of player Tristan can be for the team. I'm very interested to see where his stats will be in comparison to Ibaka after a full year of being a starter.
Here are some questions to ask yourself about Tristan Thompson going into the season:
1. Will he compare to the other PF of the league? (Blake Griffin, Tim Duncan, Pau Gasol) to name a few. This is the most dominate position in the NBA the competition is what many might consider a "veteran position."
2. If he stays with the same statistics as last year which would prove even more in my comparison to Serge Ibaka is that the style of power forward we want on our team?
3. Jonas Valanciunas? Who? Those of you that don't know this name he was drafted right after the Cavaliers #4 pick. Jonas or "Big V" as I like to call him in my opinion could have been a possible replacement for Zyrunas "Big Z" Ilgauskas in Cleveland at the center position. The catch with him is he could not come to the NBA until 2012. The raptors picked him with the fifth pick in the draft, did I mention he had a 7'6" wingspan. Time will tell if Tristan was the better pick.
Keeping these questions in mind definitely gives me a reason to anticipate what Tristan's year will be like. The thing I will watch for is improvement and I will be scouting if he really is our starter of the future or a rotational bench player. Either way I think he will have a role on our team for the next few years.
Would love to hear your thoughts.
