Cleveland Cavaliers: How Tristan Thompson can rebound in 2018-19

Tristan Thompson did not play well last season for the Cleveland Cavaliers, and he’ll need to be better.

The Cleveland Cavaliers didn’t get the best out of Thompson in 2017-18, as he had career-lows in minutes per game (20.2), points per game (5.8) and had his lowest rebounding average (6.6 per game) since his rookie season in 2011-12. He was simply not himself due to injuries, and “off-court drama plagued him,” as our own Quenton Albertie illustrated recently. There’s reason for optimism in the case with TT hopefully being healthier going into this season, though.

Thompson’s defense got better last season as his health improved

Thompson did do a good job in the Eastern Conference Playoffs last season on defense, doing quality work when he did play against the Indiana Pacers, and did well against the Toronto Raptors’ Jonas Valanciunas and the Boston Celtics’ Al Horford. With Kevin Love handling a much larger portion of the Cavaliers’ offensive scoring load this year, TT’s dirty work next to him defending post-up and rim-running threats will be crucial.

He will likely be more effective in his pick-and-roll and isolation defense when going against opposing ball-handlers with less injury ailments, too. Thompson graded out in just the first percentile in defensive isolation last season, per Synergy Sports. When he was much healthier the year before, he graded out in the 68th percentile, a massive difference.

In that same season, Thompson’s help-side defense was tangibly better as well, as he had a career-high 1.1 blocks per game and had his second-highest block rate (2.9 percent), per Basketball Reference. In last year’s injury-plagued campaign, Thompson only had a block rate of 1.3 percent.

Secondly, TT’s familiarity with Love over a four-year span could bode well on the offensive end with Cleveland’s compliment of young playmakers this season.

Chemistry playing with Love often could help the ball-handlers

Based on Larry Nance Jr. having more ability as a passer and as an above-the-rim finisher, he should be starting over Thompson. Nonetheless, at least to start the year, that likely won’t be the case, as Thompson is making over $17 million this season, per Spotrac.

Financial obligations aside, Thompson does have quality chemistry playing next to Love for a good portion of four seasons. On the other hand, Nance does not have much of a sample size, as he has only been Love’s teammate since the 2018 NBA trade deadline. With that being the case, Thompson has a good chance to still play significant minutes for Cleveland head coach Tyronn Lue.

Thompson is a better screener at this point than Nance, both in on and off-ball scenarios (such as flare screens for Love and Kyle Korver), and he’s a very effective pick-and-roll roll man. He’s placed in the 81st and 79th percentile the last two seasons as a scorer in that category, per Synergy.

Although he won’t have LeBron James handling the ball, with George Hill or Collin Sexton being able to get more favorable matchups after TT ball screens, Love could have some more room on the perimeter.

That sort of selflessness as a veteran doesn’t go unnoticed by teammates. He could end up being more of a locker room leader this season with a younger group getting significant minutes.

Being more of a leader, even with potential trade talk

With Thompson’s low-maintenance, low-usage style of play and his ability to hammer away at both ends of the glass, he could help teach youngsters Ante Zizic and Billy Preston how to be effective at the less glamorous parts of the NBA game. Both of those players are key parts of Cleveland’s future as budding offensive scoring threats (one as a post player and the other as an all-around scorer), but both have a long way to go defensively.

Under Thompson’s tutelage, both of those players (along with Nance when it comes to improving his post defense) could tangibly benefit. Nonetheless, TT could still be a solid Cleveland trade asset. If the Cavaliers elect to deal Thompson due to them being potentially heavily invested in Nance (who Cleveland is reportedly trying to sign to a contract extension per Yahoo Sports’ Jordan Schultz), there should be some Thompson suitors.

That could include both potential playoff teams next season or for teams attracted to his contract. His current contract expires after the 2019-2020 season.

KJG’s own Evan Dammarell (in this case in an article for Forbes) mentioned the Los Angeles Clippers as a possible trade destination for Thompson.

Regardless of what happens, for his own and the Cavs’ sake, it would be a major plus if Thompson can bounce back at the outset of the 2018-2019 season. He’s been consistent for most of his career as an energy big, and hopefully last year was an anomaly scenario.