Tristan Thompson made himself valuable by mastering the dirty work

There are two ways to evaluate Tristan Thompson. There’s $82 Million Tristan Thompson, the limited player that received a huge contract on account of being LeBron James’ buddy and holding out for long enough. In that context, Thompson’s lack of offense and so-so rim protection is problematic.

Then, there’s Role Player Tristan Thompson, the rugged big man that enables Cleveland’s other high-priced stars to be themselves. In that context, Thompson’s ability to defend the post, lock up pick-and-rolls, stonewall quick players on switches and change entire game plans with his offensive rebounding suddenly becomes essential to Cleveland’s hopes. In a vacuum, Thompson isn’t worth his contract. For this specific Cavaliers team, he is.

There’s a reason Thompson is a part of the Cavaliers’ nine best lineups this season. His combination of skills cover for the weaknesses of Cleveland’s stars, especially defensively. There aren’t many players that can defend top post players and wing threats one on one.

Start with that as a foundation, and you see why Thompson provides so much value to the Cavaliers. His versatility allows Cleveland to use different coverages, particularly late in games against top wing players. Unless James is feeling up for it, the Cavaliers don’t really have a player to defend bigger wings like Jimmy Butler or Paul George. But they do have Thompson to switch pick-and-rolls, and that’s almost as good as having that wing stopper.

Thompson’s no defensive one-trick pony, though. His usual pick-and-roll coverage is excellent, which matters when teams try to go at Kyrie Irving and J.R. Smith. His lateral quickness matters here, too; he can position himself high enough to discourage a shot, yet slide over to stop the roller in time.

Or, he can trap hard and scurry back to his man.

Usually, this combination of skills comes with some sort of rebounding trade-off. It should be hard for Thompson to grab defensive rebounds when he is defending the perimeter so often. It also should be difficult to snag defensive boards when playing with a glass cleaner like Kevin Love. Serge Ibaka, another member of this Film Room team, has seen his defensive rebound rate decline for similar reasons: He’s covering more perimeter players and sharing the court more with Steven Adams.

Thompson, on the other hand, is 26th in the league in defensive rebound percentage. When he’s in the game, the Cavaliers snag more than 79 percent of available defensive boards, a dominant number. He isn’t quite as good on the glass as Love, nor does his presence quite affect Cleveland’s team rebounding numbers quite as much as Love’s does. Considering everything else Thompson does, though, it’s impressive he’s even that close.

Thompson’s offensive impact is similarly blue collar. He can’t shoot and is a shaky passer, but his offensive rebounding is an effective tool that allows Cleveland to defeat double teams. Send Thompson’s man to help on James, Love or Irving, and Thompson is sliding in for rebounding position. It’s nearly impossible to root him out once he has that head start.

Defenses can only hope the rebound caroms out of Thompson’s range, but even that is a tough ask. Thompson routinely flies out of his zone, tapping balls back and keeping them alive for his teammates. Even if he fails to grab the rebound, he draws loose ball fouls, which keeps the pace slow and limits opposing bigs’ aggression defending the basket. Cleveland allows the third-fewest fast-break points in the league in large part because Thompson commands so much attention. More players are required to keep his rebounding in check, which means fewer players can leak out.

Some teams even freak out at the threat of his offensive rebounding. There’s a reason Kevin Love hit a three on this possession.

Thompson’s also an excellent screen setter, one that’s worked hard to master the art of freeing his teammates. He can lay wood on opponents, but he’s also crafty enough to switch sides at the last minute and keep defenders off-balance.

This screen to free James from Kawhi Leonard’s claws is an example of the latter. Notice the quick step to his right once James set Leonard up to the middle. That small change improved the angle of the pick-and-roll and enabled James to attack downhill.

On another team, Thompson would be less valuable. This team, though, needs Thompson’s dirty work and can compensate for his skill weaknesses. The Cavaliers have plenty of scoring. To win a title, they need a big man that can defend, rebound and set screens to get their scorers open.

In that sense, Tristan Thompson is $82 million well spent.