CLEVELAND, Ohio -- The Cavaliers have a Tristan Thompson problem.

The Cleveland center is playing a position that is rapidly becoming obsolete in basketball, with a skill set that is anchored in the paint as much as a Dutch master at his canvas.

All this is at odds with the 3-point-heavy style that seems to fit both the overall talent of the team and the game as coach Tyronn Lue envisions it.

The same old, same old

Thompson is a victim of a systemic failure, not a personal one.

Still, the 6-9 front court player has not broadened his game. A career-long Hack-a-Shaq candidate, Thompson changed from shooting with his left hand to his right a few years ago, although he still makes just over 60 percent of his free throws.

This means he cannot be trusted in anything but offense/defense substitutions in the last minutes.

With and without the ball

In the Cavs' offense, Thompson excels on alley-oop dunks, both off pick-and-rolls and with weakside cuts to complement penetrating guards. The high handoff is a nice option to have on the pick-and-roll, but without Thompson's scoring potential from 12-15 feet, it has limited utility.

Thompson's value, on a contract paying him over $15.3 million this season, comes down to contributions without the ball.

He can guard several positions and is light enough on his feet to contest high pick-and-roll shots.

On the boards, LeBron James once called Thompson "an offensive rebounding machine," stressing the value of extra possessions in the playoffs when the offense turns into a halfcourt grind.

To be fair, James' dribbling is part of the reason that occurs.

Frye and spacing

But so is Thompson, whom nobody guards away from the basket, with the result that he wrecks the spacing.

The Cavs are ranked 29th of 30 NBA teams defensively, in part because they have no rim protector. Despite his size, Thompson doesn't really qualify. Over his career, he averages 0.8 blocked shots per game. That's more of a deterrent than shouting, "Woooo! Miss!" at a shooter, but not by a whole lot.

The Cavs' defense seems to feed off their offense as much or more than the other way around. That's not ideal, but it's who they are.

When Thompson was out with injury, Channing Frye -- 6-11, with range and a high release point, a "big" so stretchy he might be elastic -- took Thompson's minutes.

With Frye and sharp-shooter Kyle Korver on the floor together, the Cavs' second unit, directed by a lively Dwyane Wade, became a feared force. When the Cavs won 19 of 21 games from Nov. 11-Dec. 21, Frye shot 50 percent, 39 for 78, on 3-pointers.

From cleveland.com's Chris Fedor: Wade and Thompson in 105 minutes together on the floor, have a 96.8 offensive rating and a 96.1 defensive one. With Wade and Frye, it's 116.5 offensive and 100.0 defensive in 277 minutes.

That amounts to much higher production from a much larger sample.

Decision time coming?

When Thompson returned, Frye sat, and the rotation changed for the worse. The current performance funk began. It's not because Thompson is disruptive, lazy or not a good teammate. It's because the fit is bad.

Lue has to do what he's paid to do and make what seems to be an obvious coaching decision.