Tristan Thompson Aims For Sixth Man Award

Tristan Thompson is embracing his bench role and will aim for the league’s Sixth Man of the Year award, as he told ESPN’s Dave McMenamin and other media members. Cavaliers coach Tyronn Lue has opted to move Thompson to the bench and insert Kevin Love at center with LeBron James and Jae Crowder at the forward spots. Thompson started all 78 regular-season games he played in last season.

I’m going to go for Sixth Man of the Year, put myself in position to do that,” Thompson said. “I’m not going to look too much into it, but if you’re going to come off the bench, might as well have a little goal — and I feel like with the second unit we have and the energy that I bring off the bench, I’ll put myself in pretty good position. Especially when you win.”

Lue already sees the benefits of having the offensively-gifted Love in the post, as he expressed to McMenamin and the assembled media.

“Just gives us spacing on the floor,” Lue said. “[Love] is a great passer; 5s have to get out and try to guard him on the pick-and-roll with LeBron and D-Rose (Derrick Rose) and those guys making plays, so it’s going to be tough for those guys.”

The Athletic’s Jason Lloyd also notes that Love’s ability to stretch the floor will pose matchup problems for many centers. Crowder will improve the Cavs’ defense, according to Lloyd, not only with his man-to-man prowess but also by allowing them to switch on most pick-and-rolls.

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