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

[F Gump]

He has not earned the "benefit of the doubt" yet as his track record is not established. It is messy.

I think you're flat wrong on that when it comes to developing players -- and that's what the question on the table right now: Has Kidd earned the right to be trusted in his ability to develop raw talent? 

In BKN, Kidd - with no coaching experience and dealing with crusty veterans who had to be made into a cohesive team and had to be catered to - had a challenging season start but still won 44, and the team was worse after he was traded to MIL. (He was not fired.) But that stint told us nothing re his ability (or lack of) to develop raw talent.

But MIL did. There, the team was way better with him (it was a 15-win team the year before he arrived, and hadn't had a winning season in a decade), jumping an extra 26 wins in the first year, and making the playoffs and finishing .500 or better every year under him but 1. 

More importantly, he was universally credited with making young raw players into really good players, specifically Giannis, Middleton, and Brogdon. The one or two notable exceptions were thought to be why he was fired - he clashed with Jabari Parker who had been drafted #2 overall, and he also didn't turn Thon Maker into a star - and in hindsight, maybe Kidd wasn't the problem in getting more out of those players.

The evidence is that he definitely is a great teacher and developer of talent, and that's certainly what's in play with Wood. There's no question that Wood, before Dallas, has only been a player with "potential" but has never figured out how to round out the rest of his game to become a key trusted player on a good team. I'm confident that Kidd would be able to help him fill in the missing skills, but only if he is willing to learn, and I think it's much smarter to defer to Kidd as to how to best navigate the player down that path.