05-06-2020, 02:31 PM
(This post was last modified: 05-06-2020, 03:16 PM by DanSchwartzgan.)
I can certainly see Kleber and Curry as complimentary pieces to what they already have in Indy. I can also see Dallas having interest. This helps us against the Lakers and teams with two good bigs. The question would be the ability to switch the perimeter with our bigs. KP and MT can platoon some of their minutes, but would still play together presumably at the beginning and ends of games.
My question is whether you could do just as well with someone less costly. Hollinger did a 10 Under the Radar FA’s piece this morning for The Athletic. Here is his write-up on C. Wood.
1. Christian Wood, Detroit
So, here might be the one exception. Like, does he even count anymore as a below-the-radar free agent? Nonetheless, I wanted to make sure to mention Wood here since nobody watched the Pistons this year.
I’ll summarize first: He’s freaking good. Locked in a reserve role much of the year, Wood really got cooking right before the season got corona-ed into oblivion. Since Detroit traded Andre Drummond and Wood took over in the middle, he averaged 23.2 points and 9.9 rebounds per game on 56.2 percent shooting in a Detroit offense that had few other viable threats.
The night the season shut down, Wood went head to head against Joel Embiid and finished with 32 points on 14-of-18 shooting. He’s not just a dunker either – Wood shot 38.6 percent from 3 for the season. This wasn’t just some rando putting up empty numbers on a bad team. He was good.
Wood is 24 and had hardly played before this season, except when he was dominating the G League. (Something he was forced to do over and over again after going undrafted in 2015). Ironically, he slipped in the draft due to questions about his work ethic and desire, questions that seemingly should be answered after his half-decade journey to this point.
Advanced metrics rated Wood as a top-10 center in 2019-20. Past performance doesn’t predict future results and the market for bigs, in general, will be tepid this offseason, but Wood should be a target for any team looking for a starting-caliber big.
Detroit certainly will be among them, and has an advantage. His low cap hold (a paltry $1.7M) can allow the Pistons to use the rest of their projected $35M in room on other players before coming back to the trough for Wood. However, he is an Early Bird free agent, meaning that for dollar amounts above the league average salary (roughly $10M), the Pistons have to dig into their cap space to re-sign him.
While we’re here – if Wood doesn’t win the Most Improved Player award there should be an investigation
Others with mentions in his Top Ten list who can play some PF or C include:
3. DJJ - Miami
4. Boucher - Toronto
7. Josh Jackson - Memphis
8. Poeltl - San Antonio
9. Saric - Phoenix
10. Henson - Detroit
My question is whether you could do just as well with someone less costly. Hollinger did a 10 Under the Radar FA’s piece this morning for The Athletic. Here is his write-up on C. Wood.
1. Christian Wood, Detroit
So, here might be the one exception. Like, does he even count anymore as a below-the-radar free agent? Nonetheless, I wanted to make sure to mention Wood here since nobody watched the Pistons this year.
I’ll summarize first: He’s freaking good. Locked in a reserve role much of the year, Wood really got cooking right before the season got corona-ed into oblivion. Since Detroit traded Andre Drummond and Wood took over in the middle, he averaged 23.2 points and 9.9 rebounds per game on 56.2 percent shooting in a Detroit offense that had few other viable threats.
The night the season shut down, Wood went head to head against Joel Embiid and finished with 32 points on 14-of-18 shooting. He’s not just a dunker either – Wood shot 38.6 percent from 3 for the season. This wasn’t just some rando putting up empty numbers on a bad team. He was good.
Wood is 24 and had hardly played before this season, except when he was dominating the G League. (Something he was forced to do over and over again after going undrafted in 2015). Ironically, he slipped in the draft due to questions about his work ethic and desire, questions that seemingly should be answered after his half-decade journey to this point.
Advanced metrics rated Wood as a top-10 center in 2019-20. Past performance doesn’t predict future results and the market for bigs, in general, will be tepid this offseason, but Wood should be a target for any team looking for a starting-caliber big.
Detroit certainly will be among them, and has an advantage. His low cap hold (a paltry $1.7M) can allow the Pistons to use the rest of their projected $35M in room on other players before coming back to the trough for Wood. However, he is an Early Bird free agent, meaning that for dollar amounts above the league average salary (roughly $10M), the Pistons have to dig into their cap space to re-sign him.
While we’re here – if Wood doesn’t win the Most Improved Player award there should be an investigation
Others with mentions in his Top Ten list who can play some PF or C include:
3. DJJ - Miami
4. Boucher - Toronto
7. Josh Jackson - Memphis
8. Poeltl - San Antonio
9. Saric - Phoenix
10. Henson - Detroit