When LeBron James decided to leave Cleveland Cavaliers this summer, the team’s fans began preparing for the upcoming period of struggles to make the playoffs. But Cavaliers players are entering this season with a different mentality.
According to Cavs’ center Tristan Thompson, they are still ready contenders in the Eastern Conference despite not having the best basketball player in the world anymore.
“We’re still four-time Eastern Conference champions, so until you take us down from that, teams ain’t got much to say. Boston, Philly, they ain’t got much to say,” – said Thompson on Thursday. “Boston had homecourt Game 7 and lost. Philly, you guys almost got swept. Toronto — we already know that story. So until someone takes us down, there’s not much they can really say.”
Tristan Thompson: “We’re still 4-time Eastern Conference champions, so until you take us down from that, teams ain’t got much to say. Boston, Philly, they ain’t got much to say. Boston had homecourt Game 7 and lost. Philly, you guys almost got swept. Toronto – we know that story” pic.twitter.com/gnGqd4mGeM
— Ben Axelrod (@BenAxelrod) September 27, 2018
Confident Tristan Thompson would definitely be of use for the Cleveland Cavaliers since the 27-year-old is coming off his worst season since he entered the NBA in 2014. Thompson averaged a career-low 5.8 points per game while being modest in other statistical categories.
Unfortunately, confidence might not do much for the Cavaliers this upcoming season since most analysts predict them to be outside playoff contention. Maybe the Cavs will end up surprising us all, but that is hard to see since they just don’t have enough to compete with other top teams in the East.
