TDL Archived: The 2nd Rnd Pick Yankee Swap

[SleepingHero]

Thank you for a thoughtful reply.  

Of course always my man. You too!

I disagree, especially about Wood.  Only 44 games into the season he's earned a starting role as a 20/10 big with over 2 blocks.  He's proven that he can improve as a defender, especially from the helpside. 

I'm not saying Wood hasn't earned a starting role nor that he isn't valuable. It's clear he's the 2nd best guy on the court with Luka. But I'm saying the ceiling of this team with Wood being the 2nd guy isn't very high, mostly because Wood can't carry the team alone when Luka sits. We've seen this team lose to bottom feeders because they can't generate consistent enough offense nor play consistent defense with Wood as option number 1. Of course he isn't the main issue causing these things, I'm more just showing how limited the team is with Wood playing this large a role. 

Compare this with, say, Lebron James. Lets pretend he's on the Mavs. If Luka can't play, and Lebron is in charge, are we pondering over if the Mavs can even score 75? No of course not. Why? Well because Lebron has shown time and again he can step up and fill in gaps. Wood can't. That's not a ding on Wood, just a commentary of his current position in the league. He's a 3rd option guy. 2nd option at best. 

Din is a tall guard who can play 3 positions.  He's an excellent second ballhandler.

Dinwiddie is all of those things, but he's being asked to do too much. He excelled playing off the bench (and off ball to Brunson AND Luka) precisely because he wasn't asked to run the offense. Less is more. Mavs need to find a way to reduce his responsibilities so he can go back to doing what he does best. Pick his spots and score coming off of a 2nd or 3rd pass. 

Again (and we've all said it over and over at this point), the Mavs need to upgrade the overall talent level of the roster. It seems as if they have no plans nor an idea to realistically do so. It's like they're wading out on a lake in a canoe with no paddle and are thinking "What if we can conjure a spell to magically give us an ore right now?" instead of just using their hands and working together to get to land.