I bet Cleveland would be happy to unload Thompson now that his #1 fan LeBron is gone. And it just so happens that we're short on mobile 4/5s (as Zach seems to keep getting injured). He makes EXACTLY the same as Evan Turner (whom I just said wasn't getting traded, but still) who would probably be more valuable to the Cavs than Thompson...
Honesty this would tick me off, they let go of Ed because he couldn’t stretch the defense basically and then to bring in a really overpaid guy that would have the same problem would blow my mind lol. I know it won’t happen, just sayin’...
I think I would take that swap. I love moving ET, but the biggest challenge is that now you have another version of Ed Davis who can't score from outside. If the second unit was Baldwin, Curry, Layman/Stauskus and Collins then he would be the only non-shooter, so that shouldn't be too bad.
You can't look at the two moves in a vacuum. Ed was let go because in combination with ET in the second unit, his contribution wasn't worth the 9M (tax included) or more it would have cost to keep him. This move isn't about Tristan v. Ed--it is about moving ET's big contract and bringing back a player who would likely fit better with the other players in the second unit. I agree that if we could have got someone to take ET for free and could have kept Ed, that would have been great. But, that wasn't happening. This would be basically to balance the roster.
But Ed would've been additional salary, in this case we rid ourselves of Turner. One thing to note about Thompson is he is an excellent pick and roll defender for a big man when he gets switched to a guard. That alone would be an upgrade from Davis.
I'm not entirely opposed to the idea even given the potential for Kardashian Baby Mama Drama in Moda. But it would reduce us to only Harkless as a playable SF. I don't do this unless I have another deal lined up for a wing.
You put ET above Harkless and Aminu at SF? Or to be more specific, you would rather have ET at SF running the offense of the second unit than Baldwin running that offense with Harkless or Aminu (or Trent or Layman) at SF?
Harkless/ET in that order. Aminu is no longer an SF in Terry's eyes. He preferred CJ or Bazz sliding over to the 3 vs sliding Chief down a slot. He played 96% of his time at PF last year, 95 the year prior.
I think that was only because we couldn't start Ed or Collins. Once Collins is starting PF and if you had Tristan as backup PF, I think Stotts would play Aminu at the SF.
All it does to me is get rid of one over priced role player for another. Which “may be” ok, you get rid of ET but next year we’ll be asking how we get rid of Thompson. What’s his actual statistics in PnR’s he seemed almost invisible in the playoffs. Seems like he got his contract so he is done trying til contract time.
Look at it this way: This trade would make Baldwin our backup ball handler instead of Turner AND put Thompson as our backup C instead of Leonard. Those are two huge wins in my book. Without a trade like this Baldwin might not play and Leonard is the backup center.
It’s too late now but I’d rather Ed was the Back up center, and Baldwin the ball handler, and Leonard and ET doing anything else... So I guess this would get something done. I’m just no crazy about it...
