Tristan Thompson Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Eastern Notes: Frye, Jerebko, Thompson, Harris

October 4th, 2014 at 4:31pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Magic newcomer Channing Frye sprained his left knee during a scrimmage and is expected to miss anywhere from 1-2 months of action, Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel is reporting. Orlando inked Frye to a four-year, $32 million contract back in July and were counting on him to be a big part of their rotation.

Here’s more from the Eastern Conference:

With Frye out, the player who stands to benefit the most is Tobias Harris, Brian Schmitz of the Orlando Sentinel opines. Harris is in the final year of his rookie contract and he and the Magic have until the October 31st deadline to sign an extension or else Harris will become a restricted free agent after the season. GM Rob Hennigan says he can’t envision the franchise not keeping Harris, Schmitz notes. Harris’ minutes will increase without Frye in the rotation and it will give him an opportunity to showcase his worth, according to Schmitz.
The Pistons‘ Jonas Jerebko isn’t feeling any added pressure this season despite it being the final year of his current deal, Brendan Savage of MLive writes. “I’d say it’s the biggest season of my career,” Jerebko said. “I’ve been working hard all summer trying to get ready for it. My body feels great, my shot feels great, I’m ready to go. It’s going to be a big year for me and I’m ready for it. Everything is going to fall into place for me.”
Tristan Thompson is entering the final year of his rookie deal and is eligible to sign an extension prior to the October 31st deadline. Terry Pluto of The Plain Dealer looked at the pros and cons for the Cavs of giving Thompson an extension.

Central Rumors: Thompson, Marion, Turner

September 29th, 2014 at 10:37pm CST by Charlie Adams

The Cavs haven’t spoken with agent Rich Paul about an extension for Tristan Thompson, as Chris Haynes of the Plain Dealer hears, but it’s not necessarily a sign that the sides don’t intend to strike a deal before the October 31st deadline to do so, Haynes indicates. Let’s wrap up more from the Cavs and the Central:

Shawn Marion explains that the Cavs‘ acquisition of Kevin Love convinced him to spurn more lucrative offers from other clubs and sign with Cleveland, according to Jason Lloyd of the Beacon Journal.
Cavs GM David Griffin admits LeBron James was critical in Cleveland’s success in recruiting other big name players this summer, as Lloyd details in the same piece. “You couldn’t have a better recruiter than LeBron James,” Griffin said. “When you cut LeBron loose in a free agency path, you tend to get results you don’t get otherwise. To say he’s been an amazing partner this offseason would be a gross understatement.”
The Pacers and Evan Turner never attempted to negotiate a new deal that would have brought the former second overall pick back to Indiana for the 2014/15 season, reports Andrew Perna of RealGM (on Twitter). “We both just decided to go our separate ways,“ said Turner.
Greg Monroe‘s decision to sign his qualifying offer means he will be an unrestricted free agent next summer, but he says that doesn’t necessarily mean that he wants to leave the Pistons, tweets Vince Ellis of the Detroit News. Monroe also dismissed the notion that he doesn’t like to play alongside Josh Smith, according to Ellis (Twitter link).

Chuck Myron contributed to this post.

Cavs Notes: Bogans, Irving, Waiters

September 27th, 2014 at 1:05pm CST by Eddie Scarito

The trade for Keith Bogans and his non-guaranteed contract has opened up some possibilities for the Cavs next Summer, Alex Kennedy of Basketball Insiders opines. By stockpiling all the non-guaranteed deals that they have, Cleveland could trade for a star-level player and the team trading away the star wouldn’t have to take back any guaranteed contracts, which is important for sign-and-trade scenarios. This gives the Cavs an excellent opportunity to add to their core of LeBron James, Kyrie Irving, and Kevin Love, notes Kennedy.

Here’s more from Cleveland:

All of the Cavs’ offseason moves were felt by Irving, who went from being the team’s most notable player to more of a complementary piece despite signing a max contract extension in July, Dave McMenamin of ESPN.com writes. “I was in the locker room and looking around, and somehow I’ve become the youngest on the team again,” Irving said. “It’s a weird feeling, but I’m truly appreciative of what management did this summer and all the pieces they added because it’s just going to make my job that much easier.”
During the Cavs’ media day, Dion Waiters expressed his desire to be used at point guard and to help facilitate the offense, Chris Fedor of the Northeast Ohio Media Group writes. Waiters said, “I’d love to play point guard. I would love the opportunity if coach gave me a shot at that, I would love to take on the full commitment to that because I think I could play the one also.”
When asked about the status of extension talks with the Cavaliers, Tristan Thompson told George Thomas of the Akron Beacon Journal, “Right now, I’m not focused on that. My whole goal is getting training camp started and that’s where my head’s at right now. How can I help this team take the next step and how I can help this team and be an asset to this team.”

Lloyd’s Latest: Thompson, Allen, Deng

September 23rd, 2014 at 12:39pm CST by Chuck Myron

LeBron James is set to play a game in a Cavs uniform less than two weeks from now for the first time in more than four years, but that’s far from the only storyline surrounding the team as it prepares for training camp. Jason Lloyd of the Akron Beacon Journal shares 23 mostly Cavs-related thoughts in honor of James’ No. 23 jersey, and the entire piece is a must-read for wine-and-gold faithful. We’ll pass along three highlights here:

The Cavs and Tristan Thompson‘s representatives with Klutch Sports have yet to talk numbers in a potential extension for the former No. 4 overall pick, a source tells Lloyd. Still, the Beacon Journal scribe believes agent Rich Paul will ask for a deal in the neighborhood of the four-year, $44MM extension the Bucks gave Larry Sanders and the four-year, $48MM extension the Jazz granted Derrick Favors.
Cleveland’s brass maintains belief that Ray Allen will sign with the team, as Lloyd wrote Monday, but they anticipate starting camp without him, as their full 20-man roster indicates, Lloyd explains in his latest piece.
The NBA and the Cavs are fairly certain that the racially derogatory remarks in the infamous Luol Deng scouting report that seemed to come from someone with ties to the Cavs emanated from someone who’s no longer with Cleveland, according to Lloyd. Instead, many around the league are directing their ire toward the Hawks for their handling of the situation, Lloyd writes.

Windhorst’s Latest: Love, Mozgov, Thompson

August 26th, 2014 at 11:06am CST by Chuck Myron

The Cavs were only willing to give up two of three assets they relinquished in the Kevin Love trade until owner Dan Gilbert met with Love earlier this summer in Las Vegas, as Brian Windhorst of ESPN said in his appearance Monday with Tom Rizzo on ESPN Cleveland radio (audio link). Cleveland switched gears after that meeting and decided to give up its entire package of Andrew Wiggins, Anthony Bennett and the 2015 first-round pick it had previously acquired from Miami, as Windhorst details. The ESPN scribe speculates that Gilbert probably emerged from having spoken with Love more confident that the superstar power forward would remain in Cleveland long-term, which led him to up the Cavs’ offer. Windhorst had plenty more to say on Rizzo’s “The Really Big Show,” and we already touched on the Zydrunas Ilgauskas news earlier today. We’ll share the rest of the highlights here:

Cleveland’s acquisition of John Lucas III, Erik Murphy and Malcolm Thomas in last month’s trade with the Jazz was made with Timofey Mozgov in mind, according to Windhorst, who says the Cavs continue to try to pry the center from the Nuggets. The Cavs envisioned flipping some combination of those three for Mozgov, as Windhorst indicates. Still, the Nuggets are reluctant to give him up, Windhorst adds, even though the Cavs offered a first-round pick as part of a deal for him, as Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports reported a few weeks ago.
The Cavs tried to acquire Alexey Shved in the Love trade, in part because of his connection to coach David Blatt from their time together on the Russian national team, Windhorst says. Shved went to the Sixers instead.
Windhorst asserts that the Cavs will sign Tristan Thompson to a rookie scale extension, suggesting that it would make the power forward a trade asset. An extension would complicate any trade involving Thompson because of the Poison Pill Provision, however.

Extension Candidate: Tristan Thompson

August 9th, 2014 at 8:37pm CST by Cray Allred

Perhaps more than any other rookie scale extension candidate, Tristan Thompson‘s fate with the Cavaliers could be decided by variables outside of his play. Both the return of LeBron James and the pending acquisition of Kevin Love should factor heavily into Cleveland’s decision to either extend the power forward or let him hit restricted free agency next summer.

On the court, Thompson has been a solid but unspectacular player, posting career averages of 11.7 PPG and 9.2 RPG in three seasons since being selected No. 4 by the Cavs in the 2011 draft. His production has been very steady in those years, without major spikes in hardly any category. The most significant changes have come in his blocks (down from 1.6 per-36 as a rookie to just 0.5 per-36 last season) and free throw proficiency. Thompson switched shooting hands in 2013/14, a rare shift for a professional to pull off. His free throw shooting benefited, jumping to a respectable .693, but his percentage from the floor dropped. His career slash line is .474/.000/.630.

Averaging a near double-double in the NBA is no small feat, but of the 19 players that scored over 10 points and collected at least 9 rebounds per game in 2013/14, Thompson ranked near the bottom in win shares (16th), PER (19th), effective field goal percentage (16th), and defensive rating (17th). Defense is a particularly concerning area for Thompson, as he gave up a generous 59.1% while defending the rim last year.

Three frontcourt players from Thompson’s draft class received extensions prior to this summer, and the production and/or potential for DeMarcus Cousins, Larry Sanders, and Derrick Favors earned each annual salaries of at least $11MM in those deals. Sanders was on the low-end of those extensions, inking it after a 2012/13 season in which his per-36 numbers were significantly better than Thompson’s were this year. Sanders is also an athletic phenom in an altogether different class than Thompson, who is reportedly looking for salary in the $10MM range for an extension.

In a vacuum, Thompson’s market value would make it debatable he would even get an extension, let alone something in the ballpark of some of the league’s young post players with higher upside. Our own Chuck Myron predicted that Thompson will end up with no extension by the deadline in the Hoops Rumors Rookie Extension Primer, and how other teams would value Thompson as a free agent is unknown. The Warriors did see Thompson as a potential trade piece for a deal involving Harrison Barnes, although those were very preliminary rumblings that wouldn’t necessarily indicate a one-to-one valuation of the players, or any long-term salary considerations.

Thompson’s game doesn’t compare favorably to some fellow extension candidates that Chuck deemed long shots to receive a deal from their respective teams: Enes Kanter is a more effective low-post scorer; Markieff Morris a better all-around offensive force; and Bismack Biyombo a much more intimidating interior presence. Thompson’s agent might argue that it’s more relevant to compare his counting stats to those of Kenneth Faried, whose per-game averages aren’t significantly greater than Thompsons, but Faried was much more efficient, contributing similar numbers in fewer minutes per game. And again, Faried’s athletic prowess dwarfs that of Thompson.

With Love’s arrival, Cleveland has no shortage of offensive firepower, nor will they lack for rebounding ability with one of the game’s premier rebounding talents suiting up in wine and gold. Thompson’s moderate production in those categories is redundant to Love’s, to say the least. The Cavs’ biggest uncertainty is defense, especially after giving up Andrew Wiggins in the Love deal as expected. While LeBron is capable of playing elite defense and guarding every position on the court, center Anderson Varejao is a constant health risk, and if Love is capable of providing average interior defense, he hasn’t shown it in his time with Minnesota. New coach David Blatt is known as an offensive whiz, but whether his transition from Euroleague to the NBA will include effective defensive schematics remains to be seen.

So the presence of Love would appear to weigh heavily against Cleveland’s decision to invest in Thompson, as he is a superfluous cog on offense and a below-average defender on a team with major defensive concerns. However, Love’s arrival also speaks to one factor in Thompson’s favor: the influence of LeBron. James is said to have been instrumental in working between Love and Cleveland’s front office leading up to the trade, and he shares an agent with Thompson in Rich Paul.

Before LeBron’s return, Thompson was a trade candidate. As we noted prior to James’ return, the four-time MVP’s arrival would give Thompson leverage in seeking an extension. Sure enough, Thompson’s name was absent from trade rumblings involving Love following LeBron’s return, despite being a young, frontcourt talent whom the team was open to dealing in prior months. In an appearance on the B.S. Report podcast, Brian Windhorst of ESPN.com speculated that the Cavs will “probably” give Thompson an extension above his market value because of his shared representation with James. He suggests it will have been a “wink-wink” investment that would have been informally agreed upon to go along with LeBron’s signing in Cleveland. Such an agreement would be illegal under the CBA, but this wouldn’t be the first case of a convenient side-deal. Last summer, John Wall‘s agency negotiated a surprisingly lucrative four-year contract for teammate Martell Webster just before wrapping up a max extension for Wall in Washington.

If Thompson does receive an extension, it could be an indicator of just how influential LeBron’s management team is for the Cavs. While James isn’t expected to leave Cleveland anytime soon, his two-year deal, which includes a player option next season, gives him continued leverage with the organization. If James wields far-reaching power in Cleveland, it wouldn’t be the first case of a superstar doing as much. Phil Jackson‘s recent hiring as Knicks president ended an era in New York in which Creative Artists Agency, representing Carmelo Anthony, had its tentacles throughout the franchise, even getting J.R. Smith‘s brother an eyebrow-raising contract last season.

With plans of keeping James, Kyrie Irving, and Love for the long term, a multiyear commitment to Thompson would be a huge gamble. That All-Star trio is already slated to take up around $60MM in cap space in the coming years, and the team also faces a decision on whether to extend Dion Waiters to a rookie scale extension by next fall. On paper, the wise choice seems to be straightforward: don’t tie up most of your remaining long-term money to a player that doesn’t project to bolster your title hopes. Even if James’ camp exerts pressure on the Cavs to extend Thompson, Cleveland brass would do well to remember that the Heat just lost James in part due to cap limitations that prevented them from improving around the world’s best player, and he walked away as their championship window appeared to be closing.

LeBron’s Agent Keen On Cavs Return

July 7th, 2014 at 11:12am CST by Chuck Myron

11:12am: There’s still confidence within the Heat organization that James will re-sign with them as there’s difference between Paul’s agenda and that of James, Wojnarowski tweets.

9:14am: It’s at the urging of agent Rich Paul that Cleveland is looking to clear cap flexibility for a max contract for LeBron James, as Paul has given the Cavs the belief they have a strong chance to sign the four-time MVP, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports. Paul has been telling people for years that it’s been “something of a mission” for him to bring James back to Cleveland, Wojnarowski writes.

James hasn’t been a part of Miami’s recruitment of talent this summer, and that’s sparked some worry surrounding the Heat, as Wojnarowski details. For Cleveland, the ability to sign James would also play a role in rookie scale extension talks with Tristan Thompson this summer, since he’s also a client of Paul’s. Thompson would have increased leverage, with the Cavs in position to pay back Paul for delivering James to Cleveland, Wojnarowski surmises.

The Cavs will try to split their max cap room among second-tier free agents, including targets Channing Frye and Trevor Ariza, if they’re unable to sign James, sources tell Wojnarowski. Cleveland is still thinking about tendering an offer sheet to Gordon Hayward, but the organization expects it wouldn’t extend a max offer to Hayward, and the Jazz plan to match any such offer, Wojnarowski hears.

James still has hard feelings about Cavs owner Dan Gilbert’s sharply worded public letter in response to James’ 2010 departure from the team, as Brian Windhorst and Marc Stein of ESPN.com reported earlier. That letter, which had been up on the Cavs official website for the past four years, has apparently been removed, Windhorst tweets.

And-Ones: Cavs, LeBron, Monroe

June 19th, 2014 at 11:28pm CST by Ryan Raroque

Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert is open to hiring a “big-name team president” who would have authority over GM David Griffin, but the team has not been considering David Blatt for that role, according to Ken Berger of CBSSports.com (Twitter link). Cleveland will also explore trading Dion Waiters and Tristan Thompson this summer, tweets Sam Amico of FOX Sports Ohio. Neither are on the trading block, but Amico adds that the Cavs are listening and evaluating their options.

Here’s are some more miscellaneous news and notes to pass along tonight:

One NBA team president said that Pat Riley appeared nervous when talking about keeping LeBron James during his media presser today, adding that more teams will now be in pursuit of the superstar forward (Marc J. Spears of Yahoo Sports via Twitter).
ESPN’s Chris Broussard says that the Cavs should have met with LeBron in free agency first before making a coaching hire, implying that David Blatt’s lack of NBA coaching experience doesn’t help their case of luring the Akron native back home (Twitter link).
According to Vince Ellis of the Detroit Free Press, Pistons coach/president Stan Van Gundy has been in consistent contact with restricted free agent forward Greg Monroe and Monroe’s agent, David Falk.
The Hawks, Pelicans, and Wizards are expected to be potential suitors for Monroe this summer, writes Vincent Goodwill of The Detroit News. While Stan Van Gundy maintains that keeping Monroe is a “high priority,” he also appears prepared for other scenarios. “We have ideas on who might offer (Monroe) what…You weigh what’s out there because once you give him a qualifying offer, he can sign it or get an offer sheet. What level of an offer would we match? We’re prepared for that and doing due diligence for people who want to sign-and-trade for him.”
Tom Moore of Calkins Media (via Twitter) hears that a Southeast Division team offered the 76ers more in a trade package than the Pacers did for Evan Turner; that team didn’t hear back from Philadelphia GM Sam Hinkie before the trade deadline ended and Turner was eventually dealt to Indiana.
Le Mans of the Ligue Nationale de Basket has signed former NBA guard Rodrigue Beaubois, reports Emiliano Carchia of Sportando. The 6’2″ guard’s deal reportedly includes an opt-out clause that will allow him to sign with an NBA team before July 25.

Thompson, Waiters Part Of Preliminary Trade Talk

June 5th, 2014 at 12:16am CST by Chuck Myron

The Cavs have had “exploratory” trade discussions involving Tristan Thompson and Dion Waiters with another team in the lottery that’s looking to move up, tweets Sam Amico of Fox Sports Ohio. Amico wrote earlier this week that either the Bucks or the Sixers had inquired with Cleveland about acquiring the No. 1 overall pick, though it’s unclear if the discussions about Thompson and Waiters took place with one of those teams or another within the top 14 picks.

Teams around the league have reportedly held interest in Thompson and Waiters, suggesting that Cleveland GM David Griffin wasn’t the one who floated those names in the talks. Indeed, Griffin has spoken fondly of his backcourt pairing of Waiters and Kyrie Irving. Thompson has meanwhile expressed a mild frustration with Cleveland’s rapid coaching turnover, and he, like Irving, is up for a rookie scale extension this summer. It would be difficult to trade Thompson if he received an extension, thanks to the Poison Pill Provision, so perhaps Griffin feels as though the best time to deal him is before the October 31st extension deadline.

Owner Dan Gilbert’s impatience has led to speculation that the Cavs will trade the top pick for veteran help. Sending young vets Waiters and Thompson away in any deal that doesn’t net a significant upgrade would seem to run counter to the goal of winning in the short term. Still, given the exploratory nature of the conversations, it seems that neither former No. 4 overall pick should feel it necessary to have a bag packed.

Amico’s Latest: Cavs, Deng, Waiters, Thompson

May 23rd, 2014 at 8:38am CST by Chuck Myron

There might be more storylines surrounding the Cavs than any other team in the NBA. A third No. 1 overall pick in four years, a coaching search, tons of cap flexibility and the lingering specter of a LeBron James return figure to fill up our Cavs rumors page all summer long. We passed along some news about the Cleveland’s plans for the top draft pick from Sam Amico of Fox Sports Ohio last night, and he has plenty more on the team in his latest dispatch. We’ll run down the highlights here:

The Cavs will likely explore sign-and-trade possibilities for Luol Deng, Amico writes. Deng has given indications that he doesn’t want to re-sign with Cleveland, and the Cavs can still execute a sign-and-trade even if they renounce his Bird rights to clear cap space.
Teams around the league have interest in Dion Waiters and Tristan Thompson, Amico writes. It’s nonetheless unclear how willing the team is to trade either of them.
The Cavs don’t appear to be ruling out a trade of Anderson Varejao, Amico suggests.
GM David Griffin has reportedly been planning a strong push to retain Spencer Hawes, but Amico hears the team is having second thoughts about the center.
The coaching search remains “in the very early stages,” Amico writes, but Tom Izzo isn’t a possibility, in spite of Cleveland’s reported pursuit, and John Calipari is highly unlikely to end up in the job, according to the Fox Sports Ohio scribe.
Bulls assistant coach Adrian Griffin remains a legitimate candidate for the Cavs head coaching position, but Clippers assistant Alvin Gentry, whom the Cavs want to interview, would have to dazzle owner Dan Gilbert to be hired, sources tell Amico.