06-17-2022, 02:24 PM
(06-17-2022, 07:48 AM)MrGoat Wrote: "Wood displays slow feet while guarding the pick and roll and will regularly get bullied around the basket by guards that lower their shoulder. Wood has a slight frame, which doesn’t help, but he just doesn’t seem to move as fast as he should to the ball. Wood’s athleticism will bail him out occasionally, but he only averaged one block per game during his two seasons in Houston. Opponents shot 63.1 percent at the rim against Wood last season, which isn’t good enough for a starting center. For those curious — that number for Powell last season was 62.7 percent and Wood doesn’t compensate his poor rim defense with an ability to switch and trap on the perimeter like Powell can."
That is scathing for a Mavs tinted article. I want to see some evidence that he is as poor at switching and trapping as claimed but the defenses he is on always seem to be bad so it might check out. I still like the trade because of the price and the clearance of roster spots. I still want one of the open roster spots to go to a rim protector for some defensive insurance.
After KP's last game with us our defensive rating was 106.8, which would have been good for third in the league. In the 32 games afterward the team had a defensive rating of 112.6, that is below league average. In the playoffs? 113.3. Rim protection matters
Milwaukee won a title starting Brook Lopez at center. The Warriors struggled the most this playoffs when Steven Adams was on the court. All I'm saying is it wouldn't hurt if we use one of the three or so roster spots we opened up on a full sized "dinosaur" rim protecting big for certain situations.
While I am not thinking they need another center, you make a good case for a defensive-oriented big.
OTOH it isn't quite as easy as getting a big defender, because it's hard to get a guy like this on the floor if his offense is quite inferior. Guys like Gobert and Ayton got played off the floor in the playoffs, and it will be so hard to find one who is better than them.
If you could platoon your scoring bigs and your defending bigs, then it works. But you can't. So now what?