Cleveland Cavaliers: 5 players who have had biggest impact in 2019-20

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Cleveland Cavaliers center Tristan Thompson defends on-ball. (Photo by Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images) /

#2: Tristan Thompson

Tristan Thompson comes in at #2 when looking at the Cavs players that have had the biggest impact in 2019-20.

Thompson has been outstanding on defense, in more than holding his own individually, and in the team sense, Thompson is arguably the Cavs’ best defensive communicator. His rotations typically have been right on-point, which has not been the case for many of the Cavs players in this 2019-20 season to this point, and TT’s been the most reliable player for Cleveland in that way.

The importance of that can’t have been overstated, either, especially with the Cavaliers playing a bunch of young guys big minutes and even more so after Thompson was oft-injured the past two seasons coming into this year, and TT has appeared in 57 of Cleveland’s 65 games thus far. Him tying a career-best with 6.2 defensive rebounds per outing has aided the Cavs’ defensive rebounding efforts considerably as well.

Offensively, Thompson has again made a big impact on the glass, as he currently is third in the NBA in total offensive rebounds, per Basketball Reference, trailing just Drummond and the Portland Trail Blazers’ Hassan Whiteside. Thompson was active in that regard even in an often-reduced role as a bench player after Drummond was acquired via trade with the Detroit Pistons near the deadline, too.

light. Related Story. Grading Tristan Thompson's 2019-20 play thus far

Also, while his on and off-ball screens have been a significant help for Cleveland, Thompson has thus far averaged a career-best 12.0 points and 2.1 assists per game, and it’s been really a pleasure to see TT have more post polish when it comes to hooks and footwork. Plus, he’s shown better touch with both hands as a rolling presence, which I applaud him for.

While it seems that the expiring Thompson could very well be playing elsewhere next season, he deserves so much credit for his efforts on both ends for the Cavaliers for nearly nine seasons, and this 2019-20 campaign has been quite an ending if his Cavs’ days are coming to a close. Thank for everything, TT!