Thompson does not sign QO from Cavs

[hpantazo]

Hypothetically, sure, but who's on the market right now that you'd replace him with?

They don't need to replace him. They have Love, Mozgov, Varejao, and Kaun already. That's 4 deep. Lebron plays enough at the 4 to make at least one of those guys expendable, even if one guy goes down with an injury.

[Celtics4ever]

Thompson isn't under contract, the only way to acquire him is a sign and trade and if you do that you are going to have to pay him.  If you are willing to do a 4 yr max for him, I could see some trade options, though without Wallace it is more difficult.

I don't think he is worth it, then not for huge money.

I think Jared Sullinger is better than Thompson and the fact this guy thinks he's month more than $10 million a year is a disgrace. Grabs a few rebounds and can sometimes defend the pick and roll.

What do think you think an overweight guy that has missed 30% of this games is worth? I mean Sully.  He can't play a lick of D either but Sully was talent in rebounding.

I do not think Sully passed the standards they set for him in the off season.

As for the being better, Thompson rebounds in the same range actually a little better with less minutes than Sully.   he shot better from the floor.  This kid shoots .55 % not  43% from the floor.   Sully has the edge in free throws and three point percentage ( not that it is a good shot for him or the team and it actually hurts Sully game playing where he is not strong) and scoring.   Thompson has the edge in he is guy who keeps himself in shape and is more athletic.   Thompson killed some teams in the post season too.  He also brought increased D in the playoffs blocking 1.2 shots per game and is a better defender in terms of lateral movement.   I actually thought Thompson, hurt us in the playoff but I thought Sully played better than he did in the series considering how he had missed a lot of games earlier in the season.   I also, think he killed our chemistry to a degree but some other of our guys vanished in the playoffs.

That is why I said a lateral move.  I do not think the difference is that great.  I do not think Sully is a clear cut better player.   He is oft injured, he has played in 177 of a possible 246 games.   He does not take his condition seriously, though I he has made some progress in this off season.

It is really moot, because as Moranis pointed out Thompson isn't under contract.  I just thought trading one headache for another might give them each a new start.   Now I think about it we should we purging the team of headaches.

[D.o.s.]

Agreed -- gambling on Sideshow Andy and Love to stay on the floor is not a smart bet.

Sure, but its not worth overpaying a guy with a limited skill set at near max money just for insurance either. They can do better for less money. They also still have Mozgov and Sasha Kaun. I think TT is taking full advantage of the fact that Lebron wants to keep him, and is using that to rape their GM in contract talks.

That is what you've said (also just as an aside I'm pretty sure CB kind of frowns on using rape in that fashion). What I am asking is who they can sign that will help them do better for less money. I happen to agree with you about paying Thompson in a vacuum.

[chambers]

Thompson isn't under contract, the only way to acquire him is a sign and trade and if you do that you are going to have to pay him.  If you are willing to do a 4 yr max for him, I could see some trade options, though without Wallace it is more difficult.

I don't think he is worth it, then not for huge money.

I think Jared Sullinger is better than Thompson and the fact this guy thinks he's month more than $10 million a year is a disgrace. Grabs a few rebounds and can sometimes defend the pick and roll.

What do think you think an overweight guy that has missed 30% of this games is worth? I mean Sully.  He can't play a lick of D either but Sully was talent in rebounding.

I do not think Sully passed the standards they set for him in the off season.

As for the being better, Thompson rebounds in the same range actually a little better with less minutes than Sully.   he shot better from the floor.  This kid shoots .55 % not  43% from the floor.   Sully has the edge in free throws and three point percentage ( not that it is a good shot for him or the team and it actually hurts Sully game playing where he is not strong) and scoring.   Thompson has the edge in he is guy who keeps himself in shape and is more athletic.   Thompson killed some teams in the post season too.  He also brought increased D in the playoffs blocking 1.2 shots per game and is a better defender in terms of lateral movement.   I actually thought Thompson, hurt us in the playoff but I thought Sully played better than he did in the series considering how he had missed a lot of games earlier in the season.   I also, think he killed our chemistry to a degree but some other of our guys vanished in the playoffs.

That is why I said a lateral move.  I do not think the difference is that great.  I do not think Sully is a clear cut better player.   He is oft injured, he has played in 177 of a possible 246 games.   He does not take his condition seriously, though I he has made some progress in this off season.

It is really moot, because as Moranis pointed out Thompson isn't under contract.  I just thought trading one headache for another might give them each a new start.   Now I think about it we should we purging the team of headaches.

I hate going back to these Sully arguments and all I said was that I personally think Sullinger is a superior player to Thompson, and most of us would gawk at giving Sully $10 million year.
 Since we've reverted to the Sully debate I feel obligated to point out that he's averaged 66 games per season since that surgery...considering the large portion of time he played out of position at center against nba veteran masters on a nightly basis (and the pounding his body took) I'd say missing 16 games a year isn't the biggest injury history concern. Thompsons minutes have come primarily against back up scrubs and NBA bench players.
We knew Sully had a bad back that likely needed surgery at some point and we knew that when we drafted him.
He's a far superior offensive player and weapon on the offensive end than Thompson and a vastly superior shooter being top 10 in the NBA in jumpshots from 16 feet+.
He's also exactly one year younger.

Anyway I don't want to make this another Sully squabble because we know both sides of the argument.

My point is that i wouldn't give Sullinger the money that Thompson is asking for and I think Sully is a better than Thompson.
Tristan Thompson getting paid more than $10 million a year is a travesty to me.

[PhoSita]

Thompson's a better player than Sullinger. 

I'd say his limitations make him a more situational fit than Sullinger, but he's productive, athletic, and consistently healthy.  He's a huge asset for any team that has enough scoring and shooting to make up for his deficiencies.

[Rondo9]

Thompson's a better player than Sullinger. 

I'd say his limitations make him a more situational fit than Sullinger, but he's productive, athletic, and consistently healthy.  He's a huge asset for any team that has enough scoring and shooting to make up for his deficiencies.

The only thing that Thompson over Sullinger is Health and maybe defense.

[Celtics4ever]

The only thing that Thompson over Sullinger is Health and maybe defense.

So not true.

FG% for Thompson was 55%
FG% for Sullinger was 44%


8 RPG in  26.8 MPG for Thompson
7.6 RPG in 27.0 MPG Sullinger

http://espn.go.com/nba/player/_/id/6474/tristan-thompson

http://espn.go.com/nba/player/_/id/6624/jared-sullinger

Now in this blog, I realize, we always have the "but",  "if" excuse making club but these are facts.  He is not the better shooter or rebounder.  But Sully took threes?  He did it to himself and he is not that good at them.

I hate going back to these Sully arguments and all I said was that I personally think Sullinger is a superior player to Thompson, and most of us would gawk at giving Sully $10 million year.

Me too.

We knew Sully had a bad back that likely needed surgery at some point and we knew that when we drafted him.
He's a far superior offensive player and weapon on the offensive end than Thompson and a vastly superior shooter being top 10 in the NBA in jumpshots from 16 feet+.
He's also exactly one year younger.

I think enough with the excuses for this kid.   It is true, he had back issues, but it is also true, the surgery did not translate into improved play once performed.

I would argue the superior offense player is largely a myth but rather than Sullinger is the more versatle offensive player.  I would rather have a guy that plays within himself.  Thompson does not take ill advised threes, plays to his strengths.   That is an extremely important aspect of offense, knowing your limitations and your strengths.   I can't always say that of Sullinger, he wants to take hero shots ( poor option there ) and he takes poor threes.   Sullinger does a nice mid range, but he is poor long range shooter.  I think that the above being said, he has more offensive talent but he has squandered it by not being a professional and making poor decisions on the court.   

"But"  "IF" CBS wanted him to take that shot? His back was bad? Let the excuses fly as they always do.  I for one am sick of them, I also think there is a plethora of evidence that this young man contributes a lot to his basketball issues or compounded them with his lifestyle.

I really hope that he is serious about playing more inside this year because if he would be a much better shooter.  I also think his boards would go up.  Here is what Stevens recently said of him:

"We've done a lot of work," the coach said. "We've done some running, we've done all that stuff, and I think that he is running, especially in the running at the end, well. I think we all probably need to continue to get into game shape. And I don't expect anybody to be in game shape on Oct. 3. I think that's part of the process of getting ready. He's in a competition with a lot of guys for minutes, but he's a good player and he's done a lot of good things.

"I thought the other day (at the scrimmage) he didn't have the benefit of getting in the rhythm, because (he had) a couple of offensive fouls where, the one he had Kelly (Olynyk) sealed and probably would have been a layup otherwise. And then our guys doubled him. He was the only guy they doubled in the post and he made great plays to Tyler (Zeller) and got Tyler a couple of open looks. So he's playing pretty well, but again it's stiff competition at that spot."

An acknowledgement of his talent but also admitting that he might be the odd man out or expendable.

Thompson wants to get paid, I do not blame him his value is most likely never higher.   The sad thing with Sully, I am not sure the opposite is true.

[Moranis]

Thompson's a better player than Sullinger. 

I'd say his limitations make him a more situational fit than Sullinger, but he's productive, athletic, and consistently healthy.  He's a huge asset for any team that has enough scoring and shooting to make up for his deficiencies.

The only thing that Thompson over Sullinger is Health and maybe defense.

Thompson is probably the best offensive rebounder in the world and is a better rebounder overall than Sullinger.  Thompson is a better defender as well. 

[sofutomygaha]

Thompson's a better player than Sullinger. 

I'd say his limitations make him a more situational fit than Sullinger, but he's productive, athletic, and consistently healthy.  He's a huge asset for any team that has enough scoring and shooting to make up for his deficiencies.

The only thing that Thompson over Sullinger is Health and maybe defense.

Thompson is probably the best offensive rebounder in the world and is a better rebounder overall than Sullinger.  Thompson is a better defender as well.

There aren't enough people players trying to rebound on offense to make the case that Thompson is one of the best. As a Celtics fan, you know that a lot of very capable rebounders are coached to get back on defense rather than selling out to crash the glass.

Even more [dang]ing, though, is the fact that being a prolific offensive rebounder does not strongly to correlate with being a good player! Among Thompson's 20 greatest competitors for the mantle of "best offensive rebounder in the world" are Bismack Biyombo, Furkan Aldemir, Reggie Evans, Joey Dorsey, Festus Ezeli, Zaza Pachulia, Lavoy Allen, Dewayne Dedmon, Ed Davis, and Tarik Black.

[D.o.s.]

Thompson's a better player than Sullinger. 

I'd say his limitations make him a more situational fit than Sullinger, but he's productive, athletic, and consistently healthy.  He's a huge asset for any team that has enough scoring and shooting to make up for his deficiencies.

The only thing that Thompson over Sullinger is Health and maybe defense.

Thompson is probably the best offensive rebounder in the world and is a better rebounder overall than Sullinger.  Thompson is a better defender as well.

disclaimer: I have no idea if Thompson actually is the best offensive rebounder in the world.
I also have no idea if Moranis is drunk right now.
Coincidence?

[sofutomygaha]

Serious question-- who's the best offensive rebounder in the world? It's between Whiteside, Drummond, and Jordan.

[PhoSita]

Serious question-- who's the best offensive rebounder in the world? It's between Whiteside, Drummond, and Jordan.

http://www.basketball-reference.com/play-index/psl_finder.cgi?request=1&match=single&per_minute_base=36&per_poss_base=100&type=advanced&lg_id=NBA&is_playoffs=N&year_min=2015&year_max=2015&franch_id=&season_start=1&season_end=-1&age_min=0&age_max=99&height_min=0&height_max=99&shoot_hand=&birth_country_is=Y&birth_country=&birth_state=&college_id=&draft_year=&is_active=&debut_yr_nba_start=&debut_yr_nba_end=&debut_yr_aba_start=&debut_yr_aba_end=&is_hof=&is_as=&as_comp=gt&as_val=&award=&pos_is_g=Y&pos_is_gf=Y&pos_is_f=Y&pos_is_fg=Y&pos_is_fc=Y&pos_is_c=Y&pos_is_cf=Y&qual=&c1stat=g&c1comp=gt&c1val=20&c2stat=mp_per_g&c2comp=gt&c2val=15&c3stat=&c3comp=gt&c3val=&c4stat=&c4comp=gt&c4val=&c5stat=&c5comp=gt&c6mult=1.0&c6stat=&order_by=orb_pct


Looks to me like Drummond has it by a significant margin, though you could argue he didn't have much competition for boards.  So perhaps Deandre.

[86MaxwellSmart]

In all honesty, Thompson was killing us in the playoffs....all over the place on offensive rebounds---but I bet he's a Mark Blount type, will get paid and dog it....
Blount was amazing in his contract year.

[sofutomygaha]

In all honesty, Thompson was killing us in the playoffs....all over the place on offensive rebounds---but I bet he's a Mark Blount type, will get paid and dog it....
Blount was amazing in his contract year.

He was killing us, but it's not like we had anyone on the court to compete for those rebounds. I'm really looking forward to having Amir Johnson this season. I also think that, in a year or two, Jordan Mickey will be able to do anything that Thompson can do on the basketball court.

[86MaxwellSmart]

In all honesty, Thompson was killing us in the playoffs....all over the place on offensive rebounds---but I bet he's a Mark Blount type, will get paid and dog it....
Blount was amazing in his contract year.

He was killing us, but it's not like we had anyone on the court to compete for those rebounds. I'm really looking forward to having Amir Johnson this season. I also think that, in a year or two, Jordan Mickey will be able to do anything that Thompson can do on the basketball court.

Totally agree---I don't see why anyone would pay TT the money he wants--he's out of his freaking mind.