Tristan Thompson has spoken to plenty of veterans and retired players about the responsibilities of a bench player. One of the common rules for him was to try to grab at least one rebound every three minutes.
Upon hearing that, Thompson wanted to do one better. His goal now is to grab a rebound every two minutes.
“Why not strive and shoot for the stars?” he said.
Thompson is expected to start Monday when the Cavaliers face his hometown Toronto Raptors at Quicken Loans Arena, but his mentality has remained the same. True to form, Thompson is grabbing a rebound every 2.74 minutes this season.
Coach David Blatt shook up the starting lineup prior to last week’s game at the Phoenix Suns and the Cavs have won all three of their games since. Blatt wanted the Cavs to move a bit faster and be more active. Thompson provides both.
Timofey Mozgov has battled inconsistency throughout the season. Just when it seems he’s getting back to being the player who performed so well defensively last season, he slips again. Blatt continues to insist he thinks Mozgov is close to turning the corner, but he’s been saying that for weeks now. Blatt still believes the lineup could change yet again with a return to Mozgov at center.
“It’s something that’s not etched in stone,” Blatt said. “We may either situationally or philosophically go back. I wouldn’t be surprised at all to see that happen, but that was the move that we wanted to make at the time and it’s proved to be pretty good for everyone involved so far.”
Blatt has often said he doesn’t pay much attention to who starts games. Thompson has always played heavy minutes, even as a reserve. His minutes have increased slightly in a starting role, but not by much.
If there is a concern right now with Thompson, it’s his free-throw shooting. He has never been great from the line, as his .624 career percentage will attest, but he improved from the line each of his first three years in the league and seemed poised to become a 70-percent free-throw shooter last season. Instead, he’s trending in the wrong direction.
Thompson shot 64 percent from the line last season after setting a career-high mark of 69 percent the year before. This season he is down to 50 percent and has made just 4-of-17 foul shots since entering the starting lineup. He was 2-of-8 from the line in Saturday’s easy win against the Orlando Magic.
“I was terrible” at the line against the Magic, Thompson said. “I’ve been getting in a lot of extra work. I think it’s just coming down to getting up underneath the ball and getting the mechanics [right]. If you miss two, don’t let the mental part of the game get you out of it. And that’s what’s happened a little bit.”
Teams have reverted to intentionally fouling Thompson on occasion, but Blatt isn’t overly concerned about it because he believes the Cavs have won every time an opponent has tried it.
For now, the Cavs will live with Thompson’s poor free-throw shooting because of everything else he gives them.
“I don’t make the rules. It’s part of the game. It is what it is,” Thompson said of the intentional fouls. “I like to view it as free points, right? So if you make the shot you get some free buckets. So I’ll take it.”
Jason Lloyd can be reached at jlloyd@thebeaconjournal.com. Read the Cavs blog at www.ohio.com/cavs. Follow him on Twitter www.twitter.com/JasonLloydABJ.