THE CRUCIFIX: Cato: Wood isn't thrilled w/ his role...Will depart in the summer

[F Gump]

Good question.  What some call ‘yanking’ others call coaching.  It is a big leap of faith to go from ‘traded for trash’ from Houston to $20mm plus.  We should probably recalibrate how Wood is seen around the league based on what we know (his trade value) rather than what we suppose. Could he grow into that guy?  I think that is what Dallas is trying to do with him.

Wood is not a starting center on a good team.  He just isn’t.  So the first bit of coaching is to break him of thinking he is.  One way of doing that is finding him some success as a scoring four.  It is working.  All of his per minute numbers are above his career averages.  His TS% at .683 is a career high…freaking .683!  His Reb% of 19.7 is a career high.  His On Court is a career high and his On Minus Off is really good.  Is it because he’s a stud or because he’s being used well.  It is one thing to get numbers on bad teams where role doesn’t matter.  It is totally something else to do it while also playing winning basketball.

Do we know that Wood can do this against starters?  No we don’t.  Do we know that he can do it for 32 minutes a night?  No we don’t.  Its OK.  We have 74 games to figure it out.  No need to panic.  Personally, I’d prefer letting Wood build some momentum and be given a bigger role over time versus throwing him into the deep end and having to take things back from him.  I get that the team D stats aren’t bad with Wood (especially with another big next to him…as predicted).  But, he’s really lost at times right now.  It probably won’t always be that way and he probably won’t always be a 24 minute backup either.

I'm very much in this camp, rather than the one assuming the coaches are hard-headed, mistreating Wood and don't want him to succeed. Some reasonable, rational responses to the situation.

Not being on the team or coaching staff, I don't know the play calls or expectations, but I have a strong suspicion that an issue might be Wood failing to execute those sets as expected. In this forum, Wood gets drooled over because of individual stats, but Wood's buy-in and working within the TEAM aspect (or lack of same) is way more important. It's revealing that Powell's success (and added minutes) are coming to a GREAT degree because he is willing to do the little things that open up the floor for all the others. Others have made that comment. And it wouldn't stand out so much if others at his position (namely, Wood) were doing the same.

On defense, the lack of willingness has been apparent. But it's likely there on offense too. We've been told that ONLY Powell is actually doing the -and-roll part of the PNR every time, and that's been a vital part of opening up the floor for the ones driving and the ones shooting. My impression is that Wood prefers to not do the screens, and after he does one he wants to drift to the perimeter rather than do a hard roll, which caters to his own desire to get the ball, but isn't team oriented and doesn't help others get good looks.

So I strongly suspect a lack of willingness to work within the TEAM concept is what has Wood on a short leash -- and let's be honest, Powell's impact has been greater than Wood (or McGee) so the shift in minutes is earned, not given.