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March 29, 2024

Pro Basketball:

Thompson’s high school coaches not surprised by emergence in Cleveland

Tristan Thompson

AP Photo/Tony Dejak

Cleveland Cavaliers’ Tristan Thompson, right, and Atlanta Hawks’ DeMarre Carroll battle for a loose ball in the second half of Game 4 of the NBA basketball Eastern Conference Finals, Tuesday, May 26, 2015, in Cleveland. The Cavaliers defeated the Hawks 118-88.

Tristan Thompson

Cleveland Cavaliers center Tristan Thompson (13) reacts after dunking the ball against the Atlanta Hawks in the second half of Game 4 of the NBA basketball Eastern Conference Finals, Tuesday, May 26, 2015, in Cleveland. Launch slideshow »

The Cleveland Cavaliers have won three playoff series to reach this week’s NBA Finals, and with each progression more and more people are getting to know the guy that star LeBron James said management should never allow to leave Cleveland.

“This guy is 24 years old, he's played in 340-plus straight games, and he's gotten better every single season,” James told reporters on May 26. “It's almost like 'What more can you ask out of a guy?'"

That guy is Findlay Prep product Tristan Thompson, and perhaps no Cavalier has benefited from James’ homecoming more than the former Pilot. Thompson’s bank account can thank James and the duo’s shared agent, Rich Paul, for the extra boost, but Thompson helped put himself in the position for an NBA title and a big payday by playing with a tenacity and relentlessness that’s endeared him to the best player in the world.

Thompson’s former coaches say the NBA Finals, which start Thursday at Golden State, might be a bigger stage but he got there by playing the same way he did to help the program win its first two national titles.

“He’s always been a guy that’s embraced his role,” said former Findlay Prep coach Mike Peck. “(In Cleveland) he’s one that was smart enough to know and look around, the last thing we need is a guy who can score. We need guys who are going to do everything else.”

In this case everything else has meant things like offensive rebounds, hard screens and constantly sprinting up and down to both start and prevent fast breaks.

As the fourth overall pick in 2011, Thompson, a 6-foot-8 forward who becomes a restricted free agent this summer, was a solid piece on a few bad Cleveland rosters. James’ return moved Thompson from the starting lineup to the bench for most of the year, but for a guy who came off Findlay Prep’s bench in 2009 that hardly seemed like a sacrifice as long as wins followed.

“LeBron has such an elite understanding of basketball,” said former Findlay Prep coach Todd Simon. “If you play hard, don’t necessarily need the ball but know how to get to spots where you can be successful, he’ll use you.”

Peck, who currently coaches the Las Vegas Prospects’ Under-17 team, was in his second year leading the Pilots with Simon, currently on UNLV’s staff, as his top assistant when Thompson joined the program during the 2008-09 season. One of the top players in his class, Thompson had a falling out with St. Benedict’s (New Jersey) coach Dan Hurley and was kicked off the team.

Thompson’s parents are from Jamaica and they raised him in Canada, where he hit growth spurts and decided that to become better he needed to play against better competition in the United States. Peck already had Canada native Cory Joseph on the roster when Thompson was looking for a new destination, so when Joseph vouched that his friend wouldn’t be a troublemaker, the coaches brought him in.

Two national titles later, both Joseph and Thompson were first-round draft picks, and now a year after Joseph won a title with the San Antonio Spurs, Thompson is four victories away from his own. But unlike Joseph, who averaged about five minutes per game during the Spurs’ title run, Thompson is having a huge impact as one of the playoffs’ breakout stars.

With a slightly reduced role in the regular season, Thompson set a career high in field-goal percentage (54.7) while continuing to make the hustle plays that he’s been known for since high school.

“Tristan’s relentlessness, his pursuit of the ball, his ability to seek contact; he understands the game of basketball,” Simon said. “Those are all things that he knew back then.”

That would have been fine in the playoffs, too, but when Kevin Love suffered a season-ending shoulder injury the Cavs needed Thompson to take on more responsibility. He’s responded by shooting 59.3 percent with 9.4 points and 9.9 rebounds per game while playing nearly eight minutes per game more than in the regular season.

The Cavaliers are underdogs to win the crown. Whatever happens in the series Thompson’s play up to this point has ensured that he has a large contract coming his way this summer, and he’s earned it in large part by honing the skills he already had in high school.

“He was a great teammate then and he was a great winner then,” Simon said. “He’s on a team to cultivate good chemistry and winning basketball.”

Taylor Bern can be reached at 948-7844 or [email protected]. Follow Taylor on Twitter at twitter.com/taylorbern.

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