"Tristan Thompson's indoctrination into the NBA came during practice recently when he was defending Antawn Jamison. Thompson, already developing a reputation as a stealth shot blocker, apparently failed to watch the archived footage of Jamison's first 13 years in the league.

Jamison has the strangest array of awkward but effective underhanded flip shots in the league, and he has particularly enjoyed using them lately against the rookie in practice. Every time Thompson goes right for the block, Jamison goes underhanded to his left. He said that whenever it happens, Thompson pauses for a moment with a bewildered look on his face.

"For somebody who hasn't seen it, every time I do it he stops playing like, 'What just happened?' " Jamison said. "The rest of the guys are used to it. The old man still has it. I'm enjoying it.""