TDL Archived: The 2nd Rnd Pick Yankee Swap

[mvossman]

I'm kind of at the point where I just don't care and am kind of tired of talking about it.  He's just a guy.  He's not worth a quarter of the time we've spent discussing him.  Neither he nor Powell are the long term answer as a starting center.  Until Maxi returns, even the decisions Kidd makes the next couple of weeks won't really matter.   

I think we have three bigs in Powell, Maxi and Wood...three wings in Green, Reggie and THJ and two ball handlers.  There is plenty of depth behind every position except ball handler.  My guess is that is the position where we add a buyout guy.  

I can see Wood playing the minutes where there is only one of Kyrie or Luka.  His offense is more useful when one of them is out.  That means Powell continues to start and if Maxi comes back healthy, he probably closes.  I kind of liked what Kidd did last night.  Start and finish halves with Powell.  Get a short burst each half from McGee and the rest of the time goes to Wood.   I think the more important question here isn't Wood vs. Powell.  It is what do you do with Maxi.  Does he play more with Powell or with Wood?  Does he start?  Does he get any solo-big minutes?  Who is the PF when he's out?  I feel like I've got a good sense of things at C.  I'm not nearly as confident at PF.

I posted this on another thread, but I think the power forward spot is going to be shared by Luka and Maxi.  I think for the most part our frontcourt is going to be Powell/Luka or Wood/Maxi.

You mentioned that Wood makes sense when one of Luka/Kyrie are off the floor.  I agree.  I think you can say the same about Green as his secondary playmaking is more necessary in those situations.  One of the most common and best 5 man lineups before all of the trades is:

Wood/Maxi/Luka/Timmy/Green

That group is +24.  Seems like a good lineup for when Kyrie is not on the court.  When Luka is not on the court you want Wood out there for rebounding and Maxi is the only available power forward left.  That means you are looking at Wood/Maxi/Green (Net +10) plus Kyrie and Bullock or Timmy.  

So thats 15-20 minutes of Wood/Maxi right there.  I agree that they probably start with Powell/Luka and that gets at least 10 minutes.  After that I think the remaining minutes (all with Luka) are one or two man combinations of Powell/Maxi/Wood.