TRADE: Christian Wood (1yr/$14.3M) to DAL | #26+SB+Boban+Chriss+TB to HOU

[burekemde]

Ok so in classic fashion as soon as I am unable to reliably be on the computer the Mavs make a move and I have to bide my time before I can post.
I am surprisingly lukewarm on the move. There are some obvious positives that Wood brings, but also some glaring negatives that I figured would have disqualified any Wood trade under the old regime. I suppose the new MBT is willing to make these moves and I don’t mind that at all. Before making my post I decided to watch 5 Rocket games to try and get a feel of Wood. I deliberately sought 2 good games (as said by Rocket fans) and 2 bad games (again as said by Rocket fans) and then 1 random game with no prior research.

Onto the positives:
• The dude is an offensive force. He is as dynamic of a scorer as we’ve ever had next to Luka. He makes moves that make you go “Wow, a 6’10 guy can do THAT??” He reminds me of Durant at times with his fluidity and ability to make quick moves with 1 dribble.

• He’s an absolute bully at the rim. When locked in he’s explosive and I can see him as a great lob threat. He's a willing passer, although I don't think he's very good at that. He can get tunnel vision as well. 

• In the Rockets offense, Silas appeared to use Wood as a floor spacer but never really involved him in the primary action (sound familiar? *Cough* Tingus). Despite that, I found that Wood really excelled in that role and appeared to suit his game. If anything, he reminded of how Maxi sat out at the top of the key in the playoffs, except he sometimes would put the ball on the floor, made 1 dribble, and dunked from near the FT line. His screens ranged from good to non-existent (ala the KP special). 

• Defensively the guy can move his feet. I watched one game where he played vs. Memphis and was routinely attacked by Ja in a PnR setting. Wood not only stayed with Ja, but looked able to guard the perimeter in droves. He appeared like a guard at times with this ability, meaning he doesn’t have to ONLY play drop coverage like most bigs in the NBA. This alone makes me think he can survive on D here with Kidd’s switch and attack space defense.

Some negatives:
• He’s not a big guy. Weird saying that as he’s 6’10 with a 7’3 wingspan, but despite his measurables, he never felt like he played like his size. Sometimes that worked in his favor, but sometimes he was overmatched.

• He gets routinely bullied on the boards. In the games I watched I saw him barely try to box out and instead he tried to out jump people. Is that because he didn’t care because he was on a terrible team? Or does he have bad habits?

• His defensive effort was so lackadaisical. When he made a big play or got showed up it seemed like he made a point to turn it on, and he actually had good possessions, but it’s concerning that it took a negative play to spurn him to actually try. Something to watch.
• His attitude scares the shit out of me. He screams to me a “Me-First” player. We’ve seen that song and dance before with our former Latvian behemoth, and I was willfully ignorant of it at the time. But after hearing almost every one of our guys (most recently JB) saying something along the lines of “we stopped looking for our own thing and decided to want to win after January” I.E after we traded the locker room cancer we were better, it makes me incredibly wary about adding ANY sort of personality that is even remotely cut from the same cloth.


Overall again I’m kind of indifferent about the trade. I don’t see Wood really fixing our rim protection nor our rebounding but it’s obvious his offensive talent is immense. The Mavs basically added in my eyes a nightly 20 point a game scorer that can attack the rim and hit threes at a great rate. That kind of consistent scoring was something we always needed. In the playoffs we always were saying “who’s going to step up with Luka tonight? Some nights it was JB who answered the call, sometimes Dinwiddie rose to the occasion, and even Maxi/DFS/Bullock showed up. But no matter we always needed at LEAST 1.5 guys to step up along with Luka to win a game and we never knew who it would be. Wood in my eyes can almost be written in sharpie as a guy that WILL step up on offense every night and be a reliable 20 point scorer. Add in JB and Dinwiddie and we have a potent offense.  Defensively, Wood has the tools to be good. He has one of the rarest skills for a big and that’s being able to guard the perimeter effectively and that’s what I find the most intriguing.

My hot take from this trade is that Wood won't be a center for us moving forward, but rather a high powered offensive wing and will take more of Maxi’s minutes. I’ve also seen Wood be compared to Porzingis, and I believe they couldn’t play more different. Aside from being a tall stretch big, they aren’t the same player at all nor do they play alike.

I give the trade overall an A-. Woods offensive talent alone makes him worth the 26th pick and then some. Mavs got him for a lot cheaper than I could have imagined. I do hope they find a way to make sure his attitude doesn't throw a wrench in the team.

Great post SH!

To your last comment that Wood is worth the 26th pick - in addition Mavs are getting into "win-now" mode, and having Wood instead of 26th pick (needing years to develop) is also a positive from this trade. Each and single season with Luka we have improved as a team and made it to WCF this season. Next season, we would not have much use of the 26th pick and Boban etc in playoffs, and we definitely will have use of Wood to make us better. Besides the amazing fit into Kidds defense, and Lukas offense. I think they were great looking at players that fit Lukas offense and Kidds defense and they identified the player that suits both.

Slowly, but surely, the Mavs are building a team in terms of scheme and player that fits together. Luka and Brunson have shown to be amazing fit, same with SD, same with DFS Maxi and Bullock. We have added one more IMO in Wood. I think we are one or two more players that fit the scheme away from winning the title, but its so encouraging to see that the team is making progression in terms of scheme and players that match.

I think Powell also fits perfectly our scheme. He just doesnt have the talent to excel in WCF, but he is a key depth player.

A player that doesnt fit our scheme but is an asset is THJ. He plays outside of the scheme of the team and teamplay IMO, despite being a good shooter and well liked teammate with good basketball skills. Both offensively and defensively he is not a fit with what we like to do scheme wise. I definitely think they are looking to move him. We had a ton of success without him and improved in terms of team cohesion as well, which to me is not a coincidence.