12-04-2022, 01:48 PM
(12-04-2022, 01:20 PM)Kammrath Wrote: I just don't agree with this. I might be shown to be wrong, but I think there is not some magic threshold of minutes with Wood where suddenly he is hurting the team. I think when he has played bigger minutes it has come often AFTER his spirit looked broken and after he was being used as an afterthought. I think you cannot and should not play him as an afterthought on the court. If you do, then you shouldn't play him at all IMO. It would be like the Mavs playing Luka and not letting him be central to the offense, if you do that then you lose any chance of Luka really being a positive on the court.
Wood has taken 86 shots in those six games where he has played 28 or more minutes (team is 0-6 in those). That is 14.33 shots per as opposed to his usual 11.3. He scored 20 per in those games. So, the afterthought theory doesn’t seem to apply in the high minute unsuccessful games.
My theory…just a theory…is Kidd is protecting him. He gets very few minutes against starters. If you watch closely, even the solo-big minutes he’s gotten when he subs in before and stays longer than Maxi tend to happen more against bad teams. Kidd on several occasions has changed that little mechanism against good teams.
So the threshold, if the theory holds, is things don’t go well when Wood leaves that cocoon of protection (playing against subs or being protected by maxi…or both). What site do you subscribe to that gives you those on/off player combo’s? I’d like to subscribe. Curious what the Wood w/Maxi and Wood w/o Maxi numbers look like.