Tenth pick of the 2016 Draft, Thon Maker finds himself four years later having to fight for a place in the workforce of Cleveland, one of the worst teams in the league. The interior has no choice: if he wants to stay in the NBA, he must convince the Cavaliers during their “training camp”.
“You have to have rabies, and that’s my mentality” he claims at Cleveland.com. “Nothing is ever given, period. Being 10th draft pick was not given. I don’t come thinking about this. I come by being as aggressive as I was in my first year, like I’m just coming out of college, like having spent four years there. I will play as hard as I can and we’ll see what happens. I still have confidence in my work ethic. “
Matthew Dellavedova and Andre Drummond, who rubbed shoulders with him in Milwaukee and Detroit, were able to confirm this when the club management came to ask them what they thought of him.
“His stature is impressive, he is generous and he works hard” liste J.B. Bickerstaff. “We take all that into account, his personality, his talent. Delly played with him, Dre played with him. We have guys who know what kind of person he is, and that affects our decision. “
“We have the impression that some of these guys have always been in the NBA when they are still 23 or 24 years old”
Just like the fact that there is a little bit of room in his racket around Andre Drummond, Kevin Love, Larry Nance Jr. and JaVale McGee, especially since the latter is still not in Cleveland. The club, which is devoted solely to the development of young people, could make a bet at a lower cost by trying to take the Australian-Sudanese a step forward. Which the Bucks and Pistons failed to do, but he’s only 23.
“We have the impression that some of these guys have always been in the NBA when they are still 23 or 24 years old” note J.B. Bickerstaff. ” This is a good thing. Sometimes we have 21 or 22 year old guys coming out of college and we’re like ‘shit, he’s hit his cap’. But there is still room to progress at 24 or 25. “
“If we take the natural gifts he has and take time for him, there is still room for improvement” considers the coach. “This is our philosophy and our approach. We’re going to give him everything we have while he’s there and see what happens. With the idea that there is always room to progress. ”
The whole challenge can be summed up in these highlights from last year against Milwaukee: keeping the positive, with intimidation, rebounds, 3-points, erasing imperfections in shooting, movement or attention.
| Thon Maker | Percentage | Rebounds | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season | Team | MJ | Min | Tirs | 3pts | LF | Off | Def | Until | Pd | Fte | Int | Bp | Ct | Pts |
| 2016-17 | ONE THOUSAND | 57 | 10 | 45.9 | 37.8 | 65.3 | 0.7 | 1.3 | 2.0 | 0.4 | 1.5 | 0.2 | 0.3 | 0.5 | 4.0 |
| 2017-18 | ONE THOUSAND | 74 | 17 | 41.1 | 29.8 | 69.9 | 1.0 | 2.0 | 3.0 | 0.6 | 2.2 | 0.5 | 0.6 | 0.7 | 4.8 |
| 2018-19 * | All Teams | 64 | 15 | 40.7 | 32.0 | 66.7 | 0.6 | 2.5 | 3.2 | 0.7 | 1.6 | 0.3 | 0.5 | 0.8 | 5.1 |
| 2018-19 * | ONE THOUSAND | 35 | 12 | 44.0 | 33.3 | 54.1 | 0.5 | 2.3 | 2.7 | 0.5 | 1.6 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.5 | 4.7 |
| 2018-19 * | THE | 29 | 19 | 37.3 | 30.7 | 76.6 | 0.8 | 2.8 | 3.7 | 0.9 | 1.7 | 0.4 | 0.8 | 1.1 | 5.5 |
| 2019-20 | THE | 60 | 13 | 48.2 | 34.4 | 66.4 | 0.9 | 1.9 | 2.8 | 0.7 | 1.7 | 0.4 | 0.8 | 0.7 | 4.7 |
| Total | 255 | 14 | 43.3 | 32.9 | 67.3 | 0.8 | 2.0 | 2.8 | 0.6 | 1.8 | 0.4 | 0.6 | 0.7 | 4.7 | |
