Would you sign and trade for T. Thompson at full 4 year max?

[Forza Juventus]

TT is a talented player but I don't think he is a good fit here on a four year max contract. The cap will go up but that is still a lot of money and years for a player that doesn't fit our system and is not good enough to change the system for.

[Moranis]

TT is a talented player but I don't think he is a good fit here on a four year max contract. The cap will go up but that is still a lot of money and years for a player that doesn't fit our system and is not good enough to change the system for.

why don't you think he fits the system?  He is an excellent athlete, good in the pick and roll, and excellent on the glass.  He is frankly a younger more athletic version of Amir Johnson.

[Forza Juventus]

TT is a talented player but I don't think he is a good fit here on a four year max contract. The cap will go up but that is still a lot of money and years for a player that doesn't fit our system and is not good enough to change the system for.

why don't you think he fits the system?  He is an excellent athlete, good in the pick and roll, and excellent on the glass.  He is frankly a younger more athletic version of Amir Johnson.

I think I would talk myself into it if we got him  I just don't think he is a very good passer

[mmmmm]

TT is a talented player but I don't think he is a good fit here on a four year max contract. The cap will go up but that is still a lot of money and years for a player that doesn't fit our system and is not good enough to change the system for.

why don't you think he fits the system?  He is an excellent athlete, good in the pick and roll, and excellent on the glass.  He is frankly a younger more athletic version of Amir Johnson.

Well, no, he's a much poorer shooting version of a younger, more athletic Amir Johnson.

There is not a distance on the floor from which Amir is not, and pretty much hasn't always been, a much more efficient shooter/scorer than Thompson.

Amir's assist rates have always been very, very good for a big man (he came into the league as an SF) whereas Thompson doesn't really pass the ball much.

And although officially listed at the same 6' 9" as Thompson, Johnson is almost certainly longer (he's well known to have grown after his entry into the league and is probably closer to 6' 11" than he is to 6' 9") and his block and steal rates again are and have always been higher.   

Thompson has, so far, posted slightly higher defensive rebounding efficiencies than Amir has the last few years, but only about the same as Amir posted in his first couple of seasons.   Amir's DRB% declined as his defensive positioning moved more to the high paint, where he has proven to be most valuable (a trade-off worth making).   I suspect TT will always be more valuable closer to the post so he probably won't show the same decline.

Basically, because he is both a much better shooter and because he is such a good high-paint pick & roll defender, Amir is much more valuable playing farther from the basket on both ends than TT currently is and likely ever will be. 

So I don't see them as all that similar, really.

[byennie]

There are good reasons why his own team won't pay him that kind of money. He's an average starter who can look good for a few games with he right matchup.

Can't shoot, can't pass, can't block shots, good (but not elite) rebounder, young & healthy, had a good but not great playoffs (10 and 11 in 36 minutes with good matchups).

You're talking about a guy who seems to have peaked at around 12 and 9 with a few offensive boards, and was more like 8 and 8 on a good team.

That's not $20M/year under any salary cap. Maybe half that because he's young, healthy, and plays hard.

[SHAQATTACK]

No....I think we can draft 2-3 better player in the upcoming years ....while waiting for LeBron to age out of his prime.

[Celtics4ever]

I would be cautious about it.   If he could rebound and rim protect all the time like he did in the playoffs, I would consider it a little more but that could have been a flash in the pan.  So I don't think I would at this point.

[guava_wrench]

That is expensive.

[guava_wrench]

No....I think we can draft 2-3 better player in the upcoming years ....while waiting for LeBron to age out of his prime.

Based on what?

[crimson_stallion]

God no...

Thompson is no better than any one of our 5 rotation bigs - Lee, Zeller, Sully, Johnson, Olynyk are all at least on par with Thompson.   The guy is a fringe starter.

Giving him a max deal is like giving any one of those guys a max deal - absolutely ludicrous.

Thompson is another Kendrick Perkins.   Yet another mediocre player who has been dramatically overrated, simply because of all the media attention he gained from playing on an NBA finals team.

I hate the the idea of extending Sully with a max contract, but I'd probably do that before I'd max out Thompson.  At least Sully has serious skill and all-star potential in the unlikely event that he gets into shape.  Thompson will never be anyone special..

[crimson_stallion]

I don't disagree with that, but we keep hearing about the cap going up and how contracts aren't going to mean the same and all that crap, so I'm not sure the money is that big of a deal.

I disagree.

A max for Tristan Thompson would (I believe) be about $16M - $17M a year on the new cap.  That's probably about the equivalent of $12M or so a year on the old cap (purely a guess, didn't work it out).

There is no way Thompson is worth $12M a year on last year's cap.  The guy does practically nothing at a high level other than rebound.  He's basically the same player as Thomas Robinson, just with more playing time.

why don't you think he fits the system?  He is an excellent athlete, good in the pick and roll, and excellent on the glass.  He is frankly a younger more athletic version of Amir Johnson.

Firstly he's not a younger version of Amir Johnson.  He doesn't play defense like Johnson (at least not from what I've seen), he doesn't pass like Johnson, he doesn't have Johnson's basketball IQ, and he doesn't have Johnson's three point range.

Secondly, I don't think he's more athletic than (or even AS athletic as) a young Amir Johnson.

Thirdly, I would not give a young Amir Johnson a 4 year max contract.

[chambers]

No, like Eja said, I'd rather just try and re-sign Sully to a cheaper deal after his minutes are reduced this season. Sully's a better passer and just as a good a rebounder if used similarly to Thompson.
Thompson's unsung skill is defending pick and rolls as the big where he does a decent job but he's just way overpaid at the max.

If Ainge won't pay Tobias Harris or Khris Middleton the max, then there's no way in hell he'd pay Tristan Thompson the max.
The offer they gave him in the first place was way too much, and they just wanted to keep team chemistry/Lebron happy. Thompson's scumbag agent knew this and thought they could wrestle another few million out of the Cavs but they've stood their ground. Good for them too.

Anyway, I'd rather sign Sully to a 4 year deal like Crowder's with a team option after the 2nd season. Something like 4 years 32 million or something and see if he can grow up a bit as he hits 25 years old. He'd be a solid bench rebounding big man and a few more seasons of working on his three point shot he could be a great value contract.

The fact that we've got Mickey locked up long term also makes this easy decision even easier.

Anyway...sign Thompson to the max?
To me it's a 'hell no'.

[dreamgreen]

No way in hell. He's a beast on the boards but we need so much more from a max player.

[mmmmm]

No, like Eja said, I'd rather just try and re-sign Sully to a cheaper deal after his minutes are reduced this season. Sully's a better passer and just as a good a rebounder if used similarly to Thompson.
Thompson's unsung skill is defending pick and rolls as the big where he does a decent job but he's just way overpaid at the max.

If Ainge won't pay Tobias Harris or Khris Middleton the max, then there's no way in hell he'd pay Tristan Thompson the max.
The offer they gave him in the first place was way too much, and they just wanted to keep team chemistry/Lebron happy. Thompson's scumbag agent knew this and thought they could wrestle another few million out of the Cavs but they've stood their ground. Good for them too.

Anyway, I'd rather sign Sully to a 4 year deal like Crowder's with a team option after the 2nd season. Something like 4 years 32 million or something and see if he can grow up a bit as he hits 25 years old. He'd be a solid bench rebounding big man and a few more seasons of working on his three point shot he could be a great value contract.

The fact that we've got Mickey locked up long term also makes this easy decision even easier.

Anyway...sign Thompson to the max?
To me it's a 'hell no'.

I agree with all your comments here except for the part in bold, because indications are that Ainge probably was willing to pay Harris the max, but Orlando wasn't going to let that happen.  After Orlando lost on the Millsap bidding, they turned around and indicated that they would match any offer on Harris and, indeed, ended up giving him a max contract.  'Nothing Danny could do there, no matter how much he may have wanted him.

[crimson_stallion]

In all honestly, I'm not sure Danny would have given the Max to Harris.

It's a very risky move given Harris' play up to this point.  On one hand he has shown some promise and is still very young.  On the other hand, he looks to me like the textbook example of a "decent numbers on a crappy team" guy.