Is it just me or are the Cavs way more dangerous without Tristan?
He bogs down the offense. I never understood why they paid him so much. He came up huge for them when Love was out during the playoffs one year, but Love is healthy , they should just run with him and should have let Thompson go and used the money to fill a bigger need.
Because defense is a thing. Especially in the playoffs.
They cannot get away with giving so many minutes to all of these non-defenders when it comes time to face off with the Warriors.
Deron, R-Jeff, Frye, Love, Korver ... more than half their rotation is made up of poor defensive players. Not to mention Kyrie, who sometimes plays defense in the playoffs, and J.R., who has the physical ability to defend but is often a space cadet on that end.
Tristan beasts the boards and can credibly switch onto perimeter players. He's come up big in the playoffs numerous times over the last couple of runs.
Last year, the Cavs most dangerous lineup was easily Kyrie - J.R. - Jefferson - Bron - Thompson.