Cleveland Cavs (2016 NBA Champions)

[stowfan]

They interviewed Thompson and he mentioned how he was working with
John Lucas on his shooting. It could be this showed when the Cavs worked him out. I hope this works out.

 

[jlb1705]

WojYahooNBA Adrian Wojnarowski

The Cavs didn't break the Spurs hearts, but the Pistons'. Thompson played Derrick Williams to stand-still in workouts and won Cavs over.

This confuses me as a justification for picking Thompson. I know that Williams wasn't on the board when the Cavs were picking at #4, but...

They went head-to-head in the NCAA tournament. Who played whom to a standstill then?

 

[tsteele316]

This confuses me as a justification for picking Thompson. I know that Williams wasn't on the board when the Cavs were picking at #4, but...

They went head-to-head in the NCAA tournament. Who played whom to a standstill then?

considering jordan hamilton guarded williams a lot in that game, I fail to see the connection.

 

[jlb1705]

considering jordan hamilton guarded williams a lot in that game, I fail to see the connection.

I don't think it matters if they were guarding each other or not. On the same floor, one player was good enough to be his team's leading scorer against top competition. The other was good enough to just score three points.

 

[tsteele316]

I don't think it matters if they were guarding each other or not. On the same floor, one player was good enough to be his team's leading scorer against top competition. The other was good enough to just score three points.

on the same floor, an apple is still an apple, and an orange is still an orange.

edit: I went and looked it up. TT did guard Williams most of the game. So, to say Williams was the leading scorer is nice and all, especially when you fail to mention that he went 4-14 from the field.

 

[AKAK]

This confuses me as a justification for picking Thompson. I know that Williams wasn't on the board when the Cavs were picking at #4, but...

They went head-to-head in the NCAA tournament. Who played whom to a standstill then?

I think... and I'm probably wrong... the implication is more that 1. the Pistons hoped they'd get him, and 2. the other draft strategy that the Cavs could have used was to take Williams (Or even Kanter) #1 and then Knight or Walker at 4... but I suppose the point being that if they liked, let's say, both Kanter and Thompson enough, they could stick with Irving and not worry about it.

Valanciunis, I think just presented too many problems. The Contract obviously, the Cavs need to evaluate these guys soon so they know what they need down the road.... and if they really aren't going to keep Hickson (and most certainly not Jamison) they needed a bit more at PF- as odd as it sounds-- and they need physicality. If they had taken Valanciunis and then got an offer they couldn't refuse for Hickson, they'd be awfully soft in the Paint.

Obviously they are looking to get Offense via Trade, so, what's the difference?

And, who knows, maybe they kind of like Erden or Kaun a bit still too... (though, I doubt its to any degree that matters.)

 

[DubCoffman62]

It'll be interesting to see how Derrick Williams does in the NBA. He's a great athlete but he's a power forward in a small forward's body.

 

[tsteele316]

It'll be interesting to see how Derrick Williams does in the NBA. He's a great athlete but he's a power forward in a small forward's body.

his measurements at the nba combine were almost in the dead middle of all PF's there. he's got adequate enough size to play PF.

 

[GeorgiaBuck2]

http://insider.espn.go.com/nba/draft/results/top100?year=2012&action=login&appRedirect=http%3a%2f%2finsider.espn.go.com%2fnba%2fdraft%2fresults%2ftop100%3fyear%3d201

Early mock of next year's draft. Good number of PFs and wing players at the top, which is what the Cavs will need. They will most likely be selecting in the lottery again next year and the talent is far better than this year's draft. If the Cavs pick in the top 5 they will be set with a great player. Surprised to see Sully down at number 7.

Barnes, Gilchrist, Beal, and Rivers would be the ideal picks for them next year in the lottery if they are satisfied with Thompson as the future PF.

 

[jlb1705]

on the same floor, an apple is still an apple, and an orange is still an orange.

edit: I went and looked it up. TT did guard Williams most of the game. So, to say Williams was the leading scorer is nice and all, especially when you fail to mention that he went 4-14 from the field.

4/14... and despite playing seven more minutes than Williams played, four shots is all Thompson could even manage to attempt. 36 minutes. 1 FG, 1 FTM. Shouldn't a Top-5 pick in the NBA draft be able to create more than one shot attempt every nine minutes in a big game?

Williams outrebounded him too. Four of those nine rebounds were on the offensive end - and if Thompson was indeed guarding him most of the time he was probably also the one responsible for boxing him out on most of those.

I'll concede this: The fact that he was assigned to guard Williams in the first place and held him to 4/14 in the game tells me he's probably a decent defender. His four blocks in the game and his blocked shot stats throughout the year seem to be a plus as well.

Decent defense is not all I'm looking for out of a draft pick in that spot though and he doesn't seem to me to be the kind of player who is worthy of a top-5 pick in the draft. I hope I'm wrong.

 

[OH10]

Barnes, Gilchrist, Beal, and Rivers would be the ideal picks for them next year in the lottery if they are satisfied with Thompson as the future PF.

That's the thing though. Next year's draft is loaded with PFs. And its already the most saturated position in basketball. So why waste this year's #4 pick on someone that wouldn't even be in the top 10 of next year's draft that's full of talent at the same position?

Instead, they're left with NEEDING to pick up one of those guys you mentioned. (although Rivers is more of a combo guard than a shooting guard, so his talents overlap with Irving)

 

[BuckeyeMafia]

It was probably foolish of me, but I really let Hickson grow on me in the last few years. Am I the only one who would be heartbroken to see him get traded? He's as close to a franchise player as we've had last year... I really liked how he played and he seemed like a genuine good guy.

 

[GeorgiaBuck2]

Yes but Barnes, Beal, and Gilchrist are all projected to be top 5 picks, so if the Cavs are picking inside the top 5 again, then they shouldn't have a problem picking up their shooting guard of the future. Those three guys are the real deal and would have been picked first or second in this year's draft.

 

[DubCoffman62]

his measurements at the nba combine were almost in the dead middle of all PF's there. he's got adequate enough size to play PF.

Really? I kept hearing that he was a tweener

 

[AKAK]

4/14... and despite playing seven more minutes than Williams played, four shots is all Thompson could even manage to attempt. 36 minutes. 1 FG, 1 FTM. Shouldn't a Top-5 pick in the NBA draft be able to create more than one shot attempt every nine minutes in a big game?

Williams outrebounded him too. Four of those nine rebounds were on the offensive end - and if Thompson was indeed guarding him most of the time he was probably also the one responsible for boxing him out on most of those.

I'll concede this: The fact that he was assigned to guard Williams in the first place and held him to 4/14 in the game tells me he's probably a decent defender. His four blocks in the game and his blocked shot stats throughout the year seem to be a plus as well.

Decent defense is not all I'm looking for out of a draft pick in that spot though and he doesn't seem to me to be the kind of player who is worthy of a top-5 pick in the draft. I hope I'm wrong.

Not to be a pain...

But we're comparing him to a guy who was off the board.

Maybe we should be talking about guys they should have taken instead and then, maybe I'd be worried about it.

I mean... Kanter is off the board... then a bunch of pg's.