Cavaliers Tristan Thompson Not Likely To Start In Place Of Injured Varejao
by SB Nation NBA News on Feb 13, 2012 11:01 AM CST
in Cleveland Cavaliers in the News
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Print(SB Nation Cleveland, Chris White) Anderson Varejao has been penciled in to start at center for the Cleveland Cavaliers pretty much since day one. The veteran center is one of the better players on roster lacking front court depth. The Cavs are a team that has been dominated by a rookie though, young star Kyrie Irving. They might need to start yet another rookie, Tristan Thompson, in Varejao's absence with a veritable black hole at the center position.
Semih Erden, Ryan Hollins and Samardo Samuels are the 'veteran' options at center for Cavs head coach Byron Scott, and none have been particularly effective. Rookie power forward Tristan Thompson is probably the most intriguing option at the moment, and the fourth overall pick in the most recent draft might just get his chance as the days tick by with no Varejao.
Right now, however, it looks like Scott does not want to put Thompson into the lineup right away due to his lack of experience and young age. Thompson is averaging just 18 minutes per game as a rookie but was selected to the NBA Rising Stars Challenge at the All-Star Game in Orlando. With Varejao out now, his minutes will likely increase regardless of who gets the starting nod.
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Oh dear, so far most people want us to just play with 4 guys..
FearTheSword, SBNation's Cleveland Cavaliers blog
by Conrad Kaczmarek on Feb 13, 2012 11:41 AM CST reply actions
Maybe that’s better except for maybe samuels
"When you win, say nothing. When you lose, say less." -Paul Brown
by macdowellm03 on Feb 13, 2012 11:46 AM CST via Android app up reply actions
Kyrie Irving is so awesome that he can guard the opposition’s point guard and center at the same time.
by Buckeye Brad on Feb 13, 2012 12:52 PM CST up reply actions
Damn. Impressive.
FearTheSword, SBNation's Cleveland Cavaliers blog
by Conrad Kaczmarek on Feb 13, 2012 1:15 PM CST up reply actions
Harangody should start…. we already get 3 pt shots from our Power forward, why not center? Harangody is his much less talented white clone play lol… guaranteed increase in losses woot woot
"Performance comes from work and dedication, belief and strength. Words and excuses get you nowhere." -Jason Heyward, Atlanta Braves Rightfielder
If it’s losses you’re looking for, Harangody is definitely the answer.
FearTheSword, SBNation's Cleveland Cavaliers blog
by Conrad Kaczmarek on Feb 13, 2012 1:35 PM CST up reply actions
Despite the fact that most of you want us to just play 4 on 5, Semih Erden will be the starting center on Wednesday
FearTheSword, SBNation's Cleveland Cavaliers blog
by Conrad Kaczmarek on Feb 13, 2012 1:41 PM CST reply actions
Isn’t it the same thing?
by kennesawmountainwahoo on Feb 13, 2012 7:22 PM CST up reply actions 1 recs
Essentially, yes.
"An intelligent man is sometimes forced to be drunk to spend time with his fools" -Hemingway
by notthatnoise on Feb 15, 2012 10:12 AM CST up reply actions
I think you will get your wish
FearTheSword, SBNation's Cleveland Cavaliers blog
by Conrad Kaczmarek on Feb 13, 2012 2:29 PM CST up reply actions
Semih Erden has potential; he's just in the wrong place, at the wrong time.
If he wouldn’t have been injured last year, when the Celtics needed some healthy size, he would have stayed there and continued his development with K.Garnett as his tutor.
Between his injuries, his language barrier [ when he came from Turkey, he spoke little or no English ] and getting thrown into the Cavs., without anyone to help him out, it’s no wonder his potential has diminished so much.
This is about the worst possible situation for him.
Lygafe.
Lionel Gaffen / Fotomix.
Lygafe
Lionel Gaffen / Fotomix | International Hockey Forums > Europe > ISRAEL
Israel Recreational Hockey Association 2009-2010 & 2010-2011 [ Lygafe ] | Israel Ice Skating Federation - From the Media [ Lionel Gaffen ]
You couldn’t be more right, Lionel Gaffen.
Semih Erden has just been handed the starting job for an NBA team. It is, like you say, the worst possible situation for him. I mean you couldn’t have said it better. If there’s one thing we know young fringe players in the NBA hate, it’s the opportunity to start.
Semih is probably so frustrated right now at this whole “starting center” shenanigan, wishing he could go back to Boston and get tutored in English by KG and play garbage minutes.
by MondayNightTebow on Feb 13, 2012 5:43 PM CST up reply actions
Semih Erden didn't just play garbage minutes.
Owing to injuries last year, he had to play some very meaningful minutes, and he came through then when he had to, but he was always playing with K.Garnett beside him- it’s called help defence, which doesn’t exist on the Cavs.
Unfortunately, he was playing with a bum shoulder at the time as well, and he was going to need an operation at some point in time, which is why he was let go for a song and dance.
Otherwise, if he hadn’t been injured as well, he most likely would still be on the roster, putting in 15-20 minutes a game, and most likely Wilcox wouldn’t have been brought in.
Lygafe.
Lionel Gaffen / Fotomix.
Lygafe
Lionel Gaffen / Fotomix | International Hockey Forums > Europe > ISRAEL
Israel Recreational Hockey Association 2009-2010 & 2010-2011 [ Lygafe ] | Israel Ice Skating Federation - From the Media [ Lionel Gaffen ]
I see how you sidestepped MondayNightTebow’s point about the fact that Erden is now going to get heavy minutes starting in the NBA as opposed to fewer minutes as a reserve and you somehow called that “the worst possible situation for him”.
Additionally I think you are ignoring some factors. The Celtics needed to create roster space after their trades before the deadline last season. They “chose” to send Erden (along with Luke Harongody) to the Cavs for a second round pick in 2013. The value of a second round pick is relatively poor. Erden was not deemed all that valuable to the Celtics. He would not have likely been “given” playing time on that roster. I mean they traded “away” Kendrick Perkins and still let him go to the Cavs. So your assertion that he’d be “most likely….putting in 115-20 minutes a game” is a bit far fetched. Chris Wilcox is a vet who was coming off a very productive year in Detroit (18 PER, 116/110 O and D ratings) and a pretty mediocre career (108/108 O and D ratings for his career). All of which is a much better bet than any prospecting that Erden would have provided. Additionally Erden may already have developed a rep for being an injury risk player.
"Unfortunately, he was playing with a bum shoulder at the time as well".
You may have missed the part where I specifically mentioned that Erden was injured, which led to his being given away to make room for healthy bodies.
Starting and playing heavy minutes in the NBA doesn’t mean that the person doing it is capable- it just means in his case, that the starter [s] are incapacitated. You missed my point about it being the worst possible situation for him, which is that he’s on a team with no help defense, and no help for a learning curve. He’ll never be a real starting center, but could have become a solid back-up. Now, it’ll be just a sink or swim situation, and while I wish him well, he’ll be more likely to sink than swim.
He showed promise last season and until his shoulder injury, was actually being productive, and was holding his own, but that’s because he had K.G. beside him, teaching him [ not English , but basketball, the Celtics way ] and a very stingy defense to help.
Remember, if you follow the Celtics at all, which I do, there weren’t enough healthy bodies to have a 2nd team in a large number of games, and Ainge was desperate to bring in healthy bodies for the playoffs when he could, since his starters weren’t exactly the fountain of youth last year, let alone this shortened season.
This year, with limited funds, Ainge likely would have preferred keeping Erden and using the mini-mid level that he used on Wilcox in another way, had things been different last year.
Lygafe
Lionel Gaffen / Fotomix | International Hockey Forums > Europe > ISRAEL
Israel Recreational Hockey Association 2009-2010 & 2010-2011 [ Lygafe ] | Israel Ice Skating Federation - From the Media [ Lionel Gaffen ]
Injuries aren’t an excuse all the time. He was given away in part (as I said above) because he is a continued injury risk player. You are kind of getting stuck in a logical rut there if you are arguing that the Celtics traded him because he was injured and they need healthy bodies, the team on the whole is old (and older even more so this year) and carry injury risk, and that Danny Ainge would willingly keep an oft-injured unproven (your small sample sized observation considered) player on a team that is already full of injury risk players? As I said, Wilcox in many ways would be a safer bet for a contending team to have. Wilcox is the “better” player “right now” and “right now” is the window for the Celtics.
I can’t follow your logic on the “this is the worst possible situation for him” because he won’t be in the Celtics system. It appears your belief is that he needs that system to develop, and without said system he won’t develop. Hmm. I’m not sure a player is all that valuable if it is in fact the system that is leading to the results. Seems to me that you could plug in any similarly sized player in that system then and get similar results, right? So I guess for Erden himself he won’t “look” like a good player now that he isn’t in the system, but in reality he wouldn’t be a “good” player at all since it is really this magical “help defense” system (actually that was the core to the Mike Brown Cavs, it’s a good system but it is not the be all end all to defense, perhaps a bit myopic due to your focus on the Celtics). And at the very least he’s been able to free himself from having to play in front of Boston fans, I mean that is worth something, right?
This is off-topic, but I have no clue where else to ask it. What’s the protection on the pick from the Kings? I feel like it’s lottery protected this year, which means there’s zero chance we get it. I think near the end it’s top five protected, though, so it’s a little more likely.
Cincy Jungle: Where the Rocky Mountains are in the Pacific Ocean
I don’t think it can get any better than 12th. If Sacramento fails to get mediocre in the next 4-5 years the pick becomes a second-rounder.
I think we can reasonably expect to get a 13th-18th pick out of it.
by MondayNightTebow on Feb 13, 2012 7:21 PM CST up reply actions
It is simply just lottery protected in 2012. The pick is protected in 2013 (1-13), 2014 (1-12) and 2015-2017 (1-10). If the pick is not conveyed by 2017, then Sacramento will convey its 2017 second-round draft pick to the Cavaliers protected (56-60.)
This is why we should all root for the Kings (and why a Demarcus Cousins for Anderson Varejao trade when he was struggling was worth consideration)
by teamrobhogg on Feb 14, 2012 11:55 AM CST up reply actions
We root for them to be just good enough to get out of the protection in the next couple years. It would suck to see them finish say in the 13th position next year and then shoot up in the 2013-2014 season and get the 24th pick! Ouch!
Well, I doubt they’ll get good too fast, there are some major organizational flaws. There is even talk about moving the franchise.
by teamrobhogg on Feb 14, 2012 12:01 PM CST up reply actions
Also three cheers for Hickson’s 10.8 PER and offensive efficiency of 89 points per 100 possessions. We always knew he was destined to become a star.
by MondayNightTebow on Feb 13, 2012 7:24 PM CST up reply actions
Article has been in the works on this for a couple weeks. But it’s just about ready now that I finally got some insider info back on how he’s been doing.
Yep, he’s a beast. Don’t let the PER fool you. Hicksomania offers so many intangibles that don’t show up in the box score, like mustard shoes, relentless motor and high basketball IQ. He’s a real glue guy, a Battier-type as they say.
by MondayNightTebow on Feb 13, 2012 7:51 PM CST up reply actions
Start Erden but limit his minutes, stagger TT in early and let him fill up the minutes, and then give Erden another shot in the second half if he has fouls to give plus get some time for the others…kinda like how San Antonio starts Blair but he doesn’t get big minutes.
TT should be getting 25+, Erden 18 and whoever else can provide some minutes.
First order of priority: Sign Anthony Parker to a long term deal.
is there really much evidence that Tristan is even good defensively at this point? His help defense is substandard, his on the ball defense is good but he seems a bit foul prone. He blocks shots but a lot of the time the ball is on the way down.
can he learn by being given a starting spot, playing a ton? maybe. but im gonna trust Byron Scott and have him earn the opportunities. 25 mins sounds right, but im not gonna lose sleep over it
There is evidence that he is much better at defense than anyone on the team named Antawn, Semih, Ryan or Luke
by teamrobhogg on Feb 14, 2012 11:59 AM CST up reply actions
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