06-16-2022, 09:11 PM
(06-16-2022, 12:29 PM)Fuerza1 Wrote: Low-ish bar here but some perspective:
Under Carlisle, Powell's best "shots defended at the rim percentage" was 59% on 4.4 attempts/game when the Mavs ranked 18th best in defense. Besides that one season (19-20), Powell's % has been 64% or higher as a main rotation player.
Under Kidd last season, Powell's % was 62.7% on on 3.8 attempts/game. Mavs defense finished 7th.
Last year, on the WORST defense in the league, Wood's % was 63.1% on 5.5 attempts/game.
In 2020-21 season, the Rockets finished 27th in defense. Wood's % was 57.4% on 6.2 attempts/game, better than Powell's best season ever, fwiw.
In Detroit, Wood's % was 56.9% on 4.1 attempts/game, again much better than Powell. Detroit had a bottom 10 defense.
You can even add Porzingis in the mix. Good rim protection numbers but below average defense as a team until Kidd arrived and turned them elite, and that is with KP missing a lot of games and eventually exiled to DC. Powell can move his feet and help out on perimeter more often than KP.
Point being, a big's switchability on defense is more important than rim protection but that doesn't mean you need none of the latter. Wood has been deemed a hybrid of Kleber + Powell on offense (rim running, 3PT maker) but I think he is also a hybrid of Kleber + Powell on defense -- mobile, and can protect the rim at a reasonable rate. The cherry on top is Wood's rebounding ability.
Mavs are the best defense system Wood will be a part of by far.
He "only" played 20 min, but his advanced stats were more or less borderline allstar.
Since the main argument is that his stats are empty. Not sure if you can luck yourself into good advanced stats, even on a bad team.
He ranked top-20 to 30 in a lot of box and non-box metrics that year. Ahead of actual stars and allstars.
- 24th in PIPM
- 20th in RAPTOR
- 27th in BPM
Think the key is not play him super high starter minutes, because it feels like most bigs shouldn't play the same minutes as guards or wings could. He is not Jokic or Embiid. Wood is no exception.
I got the fear that the defense will be more of a problem, if he sees much more minutes compared to Powell. Powell remaining in the rotation for 10 min, and Kleber minutes going down.
Then you have THJ probably at season start, who is higher on the pecking order than Josh Green / Frank. Think the Mavs are better with Wood playing 20-25 min, and THJ also in that range. Unless Wood surprises on defense.
Managing egos / minutes will be important for the coaching staff. But i think Wood will do much better under Kidd, because he has no trouble to call guys out. Silas is a young coach who basically let players do whatever they want. That is not what Wood needs imo.