Cavs: Tristan Thompson should start more at the 5 when it calls for it over John Henson

Tristan Thompson or John Henson could reportedly start for the Cleveland Cavaliers against more physical centers, and in my opinion of the two, that should be Thompson.

At this point, the Cleveland Cavaliers have a number of bigs that will likely warrant considerable minutes heading into the 2019-20 season, as KJG contributors have often touched on.

So who of those bigs (not counting two-way Dean Wade at the moment), being John Henson, Tristan Thompson, Larry Nance Jr. and Ante Zizic could start alongside Kevin Love?

Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com had his recent mailbag of Q and A, and in that mailbag, one of the popular questions was along the lines of what did he think the Cavs’ opening night starting lineup will be?

Here was his response to that, and he touched on how Cleveland head coach John Beilein will likely want as much spacing as possible to begin games on most occasions, but noted how Henson or Thompson will likely start against “burly centers,” whereas Love (who he sees starting at the 5 otherwise), will play the 4 on those occasions.

"“My best guess at this moment, based on what I know about Beilein and what he looks for in his roster: Garland, Sexton, Osman, Nance and Love.There are certain matchups where Love at center won’t be Cleveland’s best option. The Cavs would need to protect him from burly centers like Joel Embiid, Andre Drummond, Jonas Valanciunas. In those matchups, the Cavs would likely shift Love to the 4 and swap in either John Henson or Tristan Thompson — a camp battle that will be intriguing to monitor.”"

The Cavs going with the lineup Fedor mentioned does make sense. Obviously this year will have a lot of losses, but it should be expected that the Cleveland Cavaliers want Darius Garland and Collin Sexton to start together.

Offensively this starting lineup on most nights spreads the floor more as well, but on the other hand playing Love at the 5 makes a defense that had the worst defensive rating in the NBA in 2018-19 (per NBA.com) even worse.

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Fedor also mentioned the Cavs would shift Love to the 4 and swap in either Thompson or Henson at the 5, as was noted, against physical centers. Both guys will get looks, but I think Thompson should be the guy that starts more.

I understand the Cavaliers’ front office expects to be bad next year so they can keep their pick (it’s top ten protected), which won’t be hard with all the youth and where the roster is.

Tristan Thompson is one of the few guys left from the Cavs’ glory days, and if healthier, I like having Thompson out on the court with the young guys, because he seems to be a good leader that will hold guys accountable.

John Henson earlier in his career was a legitimate shot blocker, but he’s also coming off a reported torn wrist ligament injury and he only played in 14 games last year (per Basketball Reference), all for the Milwaukee Bucks, and he did not play at all for the Cleveland Cavaliers after being traded there along with Matthew Dellavedova and future draft picks.

So anyway, right now, Thompson seems to be more of a certainty. Last year, though a foot injury caused him to only appear in 43 games, he a bounce-back season of sorts and averaged10.2 points and was on track for career-highs with 10.2 rebounds and 2.0 assists per game, (per Basketball Reference).

If Thompson is healthier and ready to go, he should be that occasional starter more than Henson.

Tristan Thompson has never been the shot blocker Henson (1.5 career blocks per game, per Basketball Reference) has been in the past, but if the Cavs are playing the Philadelphia 76ers, for example, Joel Embiid is at least a threat to knock down three-pointers and Thompson with a thicker frame is better suited than Henson to contain Embiid down low, where it’s very difficult to block his shots anyway.

Also, Thompson, if needed, can switch out when needed to at times better than Henson, who again, is primarily a rim protector that is more suited to simply drop.

I think the Cavs will want to play Thompson more in terms of a possible trade asset as well. I think Thompson is a better player than Henson and will have value to a contending team, and I would think the chances are higher that Cleveland trade Thompson at some point this year, and he would seem easier to deal away than Henson.