Tyronn Lue: Tristan Thompson will be Cavs starting center for playoffs
Cavs head coach Tyronn Lue apparently wants all of the offensive rebounds this postseason.
According to a report by Dave McMenamin of ESPN on Monday, Lue has confirmed that Tristan Thompson will start at center for the balance of Cleveland’s playoff run.
Tyronn Lue confirms that Tristan Thompson will be the Cavs starting center moving forward though their postseason march.
— Dave McMenamin (@mcten) April 11, 2016
Thompson, 25, has averages of 7.9 points per game and 9.1 rebounds per game in 2015-16. He has made 31 starts at center for the Cavs this season, seeing a slight uptick in production in his time there (8.7 points per game and 9.8 rebounds per game).
As an undersized player at 6-foot-9 who doesn’t protect the rim, Thompson is really more of a power forward. But post-knee surgery Timofey Mozgov, the team’s regular starting center, has been woefully immobile and ineffective this season, forcing Thompson to log the majority of the minutes at the 5.
Thompson’s role as a rim-runner who sets hard screens and keeps possessions alive with his activity on the glass makes him an ideal fit next to this more perimeter-oriented version of Kevin Love that we’ve seen in Cleveland. Also a plus interior defender, Thompson is a big better-suited for today’s swarming small ball NBA, and the Cavs should do just fine moving forward with him as their starting center.
H/T NBA Reddit
