Detroit Pistons Vs Cleveland Cavaliers | Full game 1 highlights - NBA Playoffs 2016 | April 17
CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Think about the Cleveland Cavaliers at this time a year ago as the playoffs opened. Who would you have considered more valuable -- Tristan Thompson or Timofey Mozgov?
That would have made for an interesting debate. Some would have preferred Mozgov, the 7-foot-1 center who came to the team in January of 2015 and helped spark them to the 34-9 finish. Others would have taken Thompson, the 6-foot-10 forward/center who is more athletic than Mozgov.
Their stats were close. Mozgov averaged 10.6 points and 6.9 rebounds in 25 minutes a game for the Cavs in 2014-15. Thompson was 8.5 points and 8.0 rebounds in 27 minutes.
Thompson was outstanding in the 2015 playoffs, averaging 9.6 points and 10.8 rebounds. That helped secure a five-year, $82 million contract extension in the summer.
At the start of this season, Mozgov had a legitimate reason to believe that type of deal could be coming his way when he becomes a free agent in July of 2016.
WHAT HAPPENED?
Mozgov averaged 10.6 points and 7.3 rebounds in 25 minutes a game during the 2015 postseason. The Cavs didn"t even know Mozgov"s knee was bothering him until he told them after the playoffs. On July 2, he had arthroscopic surgery on the right knee that was supposed to keep him out six to eight weeks.
"Things just snowballed for Timo in a negative way from the beginning," said GM David Griffin. "He came to camp slightly uncomfortable because he"d spent the off-season rehabbing his knee. He wasn"t in the kind of condition to play that he"d like. We spent time getting him in shape."
The comeback was slow.
"There is nothing wrong with the knee," said Griffin. "He"s had no swelling, recurrent issues relative to the surgery. We have to almost throw him off the court after practice because he just wants to keep working. If you have issues with your knee, you would not do that."
This season, Mozgov is averaging 6.3 points and 4.4 rebounds in 17 minutes. He"s not the same shot-blocker or defender. As more teams employ smaller lineups with no real center, his playing time also has been slashed.
"I think he put incredible pressure on himself," said Griffin. "He came into the year with the high level of expectations that we have as a team ... and his own expectations because he"s a free agent ... all that pressure he put on himself made it hard for him to play that way."
There have been times when Mozgov looks as he did season ago, but he hasn"t sustained it. Other games, he drops passes and plays timidly. As I recently wrote, the Cavs too often play poorly as a unit with him on the floor -- and lots of stats back that up.
Mozgov didn"t play in Friday"s Game 3 of the Detroit series. He will be 30 on July 16. It"s hard to imagine the Cavs spending much to keep him as Thompson has taken over at center. Kevin Love has shown he can play some center, and they also added 6-foot-11 Channing Frye.
Thompson, Love and Frye are all on long-term contracts.
It"s also difficult to figure out what type of contract will be awaiting Mozgov this summer, other than it will be considerably less than he"d have received a year ago.
ABOUT THOMPSON
What does Griffin think about Thompson in light of the contract he signed?
"I"m grateful he"s on the team," said the general manager. "Some people have a difficult time understanding the impact he makes on the game because he doesn"t have the traditional statistics (especially scoring). We have a measure known as "win shares," and he"s 22nd in the NBA."
That sounds outrageously high for a player who averaged 7.8 points and 9.0 rebounds, shooting 59 percent from the field and 62 percent at the foul line.
"The reason he"s so essential to us is that he"s a Swiss Army knife type of player," said Griffin. "He can guard any type of frontcourt player. He also can cover some of the deficiencies of others in the front court because he covers so much ground. He has become an infinitely better rim-protector this season. His court awareness has improved significantly."
Thompson has played in 370 consecutive regular season games, the longest current streak in the league. At 25, his game can continue to improve. His weakness is offense, something the Cavs really don"t need.
"Tristan is someone you could have invested any amount of money in and you know he"d continue to work at his craft," said Griffin.
In case you were wondering about a former Cavs big man, Anderson Varejao has played very little since being signed by Golden State in February. He is averaging 2.6 points and 2.3 rebounds in 8.5 minutes per game. He"s sat out six of 28 games since the trade, and played only seven minutes in the postseason.
Source: http://www.cleveland.com/pluto/index.ssf/2016/04/cleveland_cavaliers_have_terry_48.html
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