Deep runs vs Cavs in the past sold Tristan Thompson on Celtics’ future

The young core of the team pushing Cleveland to the brink would pay dividends years later in free agency.

If they can get over his ties to longtime foe LeBron James, Boston Celtics fans are going to enjoy Tristan Thompson on their team with the sort of professionalism and gritty defense he’ll bring to the team — two qualities LeBron ironically helped Thompson hone.

Brought on to carry with him some of his veteran experience in deep playoff runs with his former Cleveland Cavaliers, much of that experience came alongside James and in many ways is a product of his leadership.

In that sense, it would be foolish to reject what Thompson can bring to the team, though there will undoubtedly be fans who can’t see past their green-tinted lenses.

“I think with my experience and who I’ve been around, playing with LeBron and learning day in and day out what he puts in and how he punches the clock,” shared the Canadian big man on what he brings to the team in his inaugural presser with the Celtics.

And while fans may cringe when they hear him correct the media when it is suggest he played with one of the greatest to play the game (“THE greatest player”, Thompson interjected with a wink), the veteran center chose Boston because of its future, not its — or his — past.

“For this team, what really attracted me to the Celtics was how young and talented these guys are,” explained Thompson.

“Jaylen [Brown], Jayson [Tatum], even [Marcus] Smart, how young they are, how talented they are at a young age. I always remember when Kyrie [Irving] and Gordon [Hayward] were out, and you had Terry [Rozier] and you had all these young guys. you had Tatum he was a rookie, you had [Brown] — he was in his second year, third year, I can’t remember — and then Smart, very similar [in his] third or fourth year.”

“For them to take us to a Game 7, that’s a promising ball club,” he added, referencing the team pushing the Cavs to the brink of the NBA Finals in 2018.

Celtics fans may well forget about Thompson’s deep roots playing with a player who has negatively impacted their favorite team’s win totals perhaps more than any other player in the last decade when the wins roll in on this iteration of the Celtics.

And with the switchable, burlier brand of defense he himself compares to Smart’s — but “at the big position,” — those among us still struggling with the Toronto native’s past ought to find plenty of reasons to change their views in a hurry.

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