3 things Cavs fans should be most grateful for regarding Tristan Thompson

Tristan Thompson was with the Cleveland Cavaliers for a long time.

As the saying goes, “All good things must come to an end.” And that held true on Saturday, as longtime Cleveland Cavaliers big man Tristan Thompson reportedly signed with the Boston Celtics for two years and $19 million. For those reported details/the rumors about potential other squads with interest, you can view those at the aforementioned link.

Thompson, who was an unrestricted free agent, signing elsewhere, was understandable, and I wish him well, given all he provided for the Wine and Gold.

Plus, Andre Drummond picked up his $28.7 million player option for next season, and while he’ll likely continually be a subject in trade rumors, Drummond should seemingly be around for a chunk of next season. He’d the starting 5.

Thompson, for what it’s worth, was still bought-into a bench role even after Cleveland acquired Drummond via trade from the Detroit Pistons post-2020 deadline leading into the prior season’s novel coronavirus-induced hiatus/end of 2019-20 for Cleveland, though.

He did also reportedly want to try to finish out his career with the Cavs, but Thompson was previously “offered” a deal by Cleveland, albeit not formally, but rejected that. And for TT, getting a chance to, whether he’ll be a starter or not, play for a contender again is something I absolutely get.

Nonetheless, I am beyond grateful for what TT, who holds the franchise record for consecutive games played and is eighth all-time in minutes, brought the Cavaliers in his nine-year career with Cleveland. And I have no reason to have hard feelings.

Along those lines, here, I’ll highlight the three things I’m most grateful for regarding what TT provided for the Cavs.

The first has to do with what was so apparent game-in and game-out when Thompson was playing for the Wine and Gold.

#1: TT’s relentless offensive rebounding for the Cavs

From day one, Thompson’s relentless rebounding was on display in his time with the Cavs. Thompson has been one of the NBA’s best offensive rebounders for years, and has had a healthy 3.4 offensive boards per outing for his career, and lifetime, has had 4.4 per-36 minutes.

Additionally, in four runs to the NBA Finals in LeBron’s return tenure, TT’s work on the offensive glass was even more meaningful. Also in that realm, in the Cavaliers’ 2016 title win/comeback over the Golden State Warriors, Thompson’s offensive rebounding was especially crucial for Cleveland.

Regardless of the situations it’s been, though, and it was still the case for the past two rebuilding seasons for the Cavs, Thompson’s always been such a hard worker on the offensive glass, and that’s something I’ll always be more than grateful for.

It’s far from a secret as to why Thompson is second all-time on the Wine and Gold behind only Zydrunas Illgauskas in total offensive rebounds. His timing, grit and sheer will in coming up with contested rebounds at times seemingly against two, three and even four opponents on the offensive end is something that Cavs fans never took for granted.

And in the postseason, that was truly invaluable alongside LeBron James, Kyrie Irving, Kevin Love, J.R. Smith and others, in particular.

Overall, Thompson’s offensive rebounding never allowed opposing bigs to just be assumptive with bringing in defensive boards, and that led to Thompson drawing loose ball fouls in the process at times just from his unwavering effort.

We’ll get into the second thing I’m most grateful regarding TT in his time with the Cavs next.

#2: TT made the unglamorous glamorous for the Cavs

The second thing I’m most grateful for involving Thompson’s tenure with the Cavaliers was how he made the unglamorous glamorous. We’re well aware of the offensive rebounding, and just the overall grit and toughness Thompson provided always jumped out in his Cleveland tenure.

To me, though, we often saw TT get his share of loose balls and his effort on 50-50 balls game-in and game-out should never have been discounted. Fans of the Wine and Gold loved that part of his game, which was crucial in postseason play, too. The same went for Thompson always being a reliable interior defender for years (I’m talkin’ to you, Al Horford), and he more than held his own, to a large degree, in switchouts.

What I don’t discount, either, was the unselfishness Thompson had always being such a high level screening presence.

That was whether that was for the likes of Matthew Dellavedova, LeBron, Kyrie, Collin Sexton and/or Darius Garland on-ball, among others. And off-ball, Thompson was so effective in creating space for catch-and-shoot/off-screen threats such as J.R. Smith and Kyle Korver, too.

In that screening realm, in three of the past four seasons, among those that appeared in at least 10 games, Thompson placed seventh or better in screen assists per contest, per NBA.com’s hustle data, with once being third and fifth.

Moreover, when he was able to go, Thompson clearly was known for doing the dirty work for the Wine and Gold. And man, did he do that about as well as anybody, which definitely factored into winning.

Last but not least, we’ll look at third thing I’m so appreciative for when it comes to what Thompson brought for so long for Cleveland.

#3: The intangibles/Thompson’s leadership for the Cavs the past two seasons

Thompson, in the past two seasons after LeBron left via unrestricted free agency essentially the second time in the summer of 2018, then to the Los Angeles Lakers, had seemingly taken charge as the primary leader on the Cavs.

It’s evident that what Thompson provided was solid interior play, big-time glass cleaning, great screening, constant activity as a defensive rotator and he was an overall diligent worker at both ends.

TT, let’s not gloss over, had a career-best 12.0 points per game in 2019-20, and made strides on that end the past two seasons, albeit his 2018-19 was largely injury-riddled. He had a near-career-best 10.1 rebounds per contest last season, too, anyhow.

It’s more than what Thompson brought game-in, game-out on the interior/as a screener/rebounder, though, and the Cavaliers fully understood that.

What was clear in his last two seasons, in particular (not to discount him as a teammate before), was that he was such a valuable leadership presence for youngsters such as Darius Garland, Collin Sexton, Kevin Porter Jr. and others.

This tweet from Cleveland.com’s Chris Fedor involving comments from Larry Nance Jr. on TT was so telling about his Cavs career, sure, but also in relation to his intangibles, how he seemingly was a key leader in Nance’s time and with how awesome a teammate Thompson has been.

Nance touching on how TT “has always been one of the good guys,” as Fedor noted was spot-on.

Thanks so much for all you’ve given the Cavs over the years, Tristan. I’m beyond grateful for it, and we’ll assuredly see your #13 jersey retired.

You’ll always be considered a Cavs lifer in my book, TT.