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

[dynamicalVoid]

I'll add ... Is Wood worth a 1st round pick? So far, yes, absolutely. He's clearly a rotation guy and adding more value than a typical late first round pick. The jury is still out though. 
-If Dallas is bounced from the playoffs and Wood leaves for nothing, you've wasted an asset. 
-If he's traded for an upgrade, you've bought yourself some time. 
-If he's resigned for a big number, the value is questionable.

I guess the question is...do Wood and Luka have good enough chemistry that it vaults the offense and overshadows the defensive issues.

Is it even possible to eval Wood/Luka combo yet?  Would a playoff setting be a better way to eval them?  Or is it obvious what they are at this point?

[IamDougieFresh]

I still believe Wood’s optimized peak is on an all-star/borderline all-star level. We probably will not get it with this coach.

[vfromlmf]

Is it even possible to eval Wood/Luka combo yet?  Would a playoff setting be a better way to eval them?  Or is it obvious what they are at this point?

I don't think we've seen enough of them together to know if good offense can overcome bad defense but as we've seen, that may be based on whether or not the other guys like THJ and DFS are making shots. If Hardaway makes 5-6 threes this team is going to be tough to beat, but they'll struggle when shots aren't falling even if Luka and Wood combine for 60 points.

[Jym]

I'll add ... Is Wood worth a 1st round pick? So far, yes, absolutely. He's clearly a rotation guy and adding more value than a typical late first round pick. The jury is still out though. 
-If Dallas is bounced from the playoffs and Wood leaves for nothing, you've wasted an asset. 
-If he's traded for an upgrade, you've bought yourself some time. 
-If he's resigned for a big number, the value is questionable.

Still wondering if there was a way for us to use that first rounder to dump Bertans 
We then could have given Brunson an appropriate offer

[cow]

Still wondering if there was a way for us to use that first rounder to dump Bertans 
We then could have given Brunson an appropriate offer

With 3 years and $38-49M left on his deal?  I'm doubtful.

[SleepingHero]

He's more Bobby Portis than Kristaps Porzingis. 

This this this.

Love Wood but gotta be realistic here. I remember going back and watching several Rocket games last season to see what we'd be getting and my takeaway largely was "transcendent scorer, but yeesh that defense."

Not much has changed. He's a role player that can consistently get close to 20 points a night and give up anywhere on the other end 18-20 a night on his own.

[Jym]

With 3 years and $38-49M left on his deal?  I'm doubtful.

I'm gonna laugh when the Wizards trade Porzingis this year for a first rounder and some useful players on reasonable deals
The trade last year had some short-term success but overall.....man what a horrible deal
Seemed like such a rush move if that was the only thing we could get for him. Just continue waiting it out at that point

[Chicagojk]

I'm gonna laugh when the Wizards trade Porzingis this year for a first rounder and some useful players on reasonable deals
The trade last year had some short-term success but overall.....man what a horrible deal
Seemed like such a rush move if that was the only thing we could get for him. Just continue waiting it out at that point

Yeah it looks rough.  Now that could change if KP gets injured again, but the Wizards fans have liked what they have seen so far.   

I was looking at the Pelicans roster the other day and admiring all their "on the edge" moves.   Even with the CJ trade they picked up an expiring in Larry Nance and then resigned him.   Adding an asset similar to him in the Dinwiddie trade would have made things much better.   Instead, we wound up with another bad contract who hardly plays.

[JamesConway912]

Still wondering if there was a way for us to use that first rounder to dump Bertans 
We then could have given Brunson an appropriate offer

Even with Bertans on the payroll they could have offered Brunson more money than NY. They simply preferred to save money instead.

[Jym]

Even with Bertans on the payroll they could have offered Brunson more money than NY. They simply preferred to save money instead.

He would have added something crazy like $130 million to the payroll this year if we also did the Wood deal
Maybe we could have dumped Dinwiddie more easily

[JamesConway912]

He would have added something crazy like $130 million to the payroll this year if we also did the Wood deal
Maybe we could have dumped Dinwiddie more easily

DAL had the lowest payroll over the last five years. They easily could have swallowed the tax hit for a season. 

But they cheaped out. It’s as simple as that.

[ItsGoTime]

Even with Bertans on the payroll they could have offered Brunson more money than NY. They simply preferred to save money instead.

This is a point that goes nowhere cause there is no telling if JB would've either 1) accepted a higher offer to stay or 2) NY wouldn't have matched ours.

[SleepingHero]

I'm gonna laugh when the Wizards trade Porzingis this year for a first rounder and some useful players on reasonable deals
The trade last year had some short-term success but overall.....man what a horrible deal
Seemed like such a rush move if that was the only thing we could get for him. Just continue waiting it out at that point

You also have to factor could KP have realistically rehabbed his image here like that playing the role the Mavs needed him to? I don't think so.

[KillerLeft]

Porzingis sucks, imo. I wouldn't want him on any team, but even those who are still fans of his have to admit that he wasn't a fit here with Luka. The team improved dramatically as a result of that trade.

To me, Wood (even just what he potentially could be) is a much, much more desirable piece to have than Porzingis, and it's still possible they move Wood for something even better.

[StrandedOnBeauboisHill]

Watching Wood seal off smaller defenders when switched and getting easy buckets underneath the basket is like night and day compared to watching KP on a switch.

[MFFL]

I'm gonna laugh when the Wizards trade Porzingis this year for a first rounder and some useful players on reasonable deals
The trade last year had some short-term success but overall.....man what a horrible deal
Seemed like such a rush move if that was the only thing we could get for him. Just continue waiting it out at that point

Or... the Mavs were pretty sure that Brunson was going to the Knicks and they would need a point guard. 

So they flipped KP for the best point guard they could acquire.

[Jym]

Porzingis sucks, imo. I wouldn't want him on any team, but even those who are still fans of his have to admit that he wasn't a fit here with Luka. The team improved dramatically as a result of that trade.

Yeah KP and Powell playing together was just a spacing nightmare
Forcing Kidd to go small was my favorite part of that trade

But I think we end up winning a ton of games with Brunson and Bullock in the starting/ending lineups even with KP manning the 5

[KillerLeft]

But I think we end up winning a ton of games with Brunson and Bullock in the starting/ending lineups even with KP manning the 5

...provided he and Luka WANTED to figure out how to play together, which sure didn't seem to be the case to me. And honestly, I felt it became pretty clear as KP's time went on here that his mobility wasn't up to playing defense against the good teams who understood spacing late in the seasons, even if healthy.

[DanSchwartzgan]

I think I've seen enough.  I've tried to be positive about how Wood could probably fit into a limited role here...a role I thought he could thrive in.  I accurately described that role this summer and have consistently and accurately pointed out what Kidd is trying to do to make Wood viable.  But, it isn't working out.  As of this morning, Wood is -1.5 in On-minus-Off.  EVERY SINGLE NBA team has a center who starts or at least has played 500 minutes with a higher D-EPM than Wood's pathetic 12.  Center's have to defend and Wood can't.  Even if you value offense, his O-EMP is 27th among centers...right behind freaking Mason Plumlee.  No one is giving value for this guy.

He's not our second best player who Kidd should start.  He's an offense-only role player off the bench.  

It doesn't matter what position you want to call him, he won't (and probably can't) play as a solo-big.  Kidd is protecting him against subs and alongside Maxi (and probably Green after watching last night).  If you don't like him in that scenario, pray we never have to see him starting consistently with DFS, THJ, SD and Luka.  If someone proposed a trade to bring Wood to Dallas, the board would point out that he's empty calories.  A ball-stopping offensive big who can't defend his position.  But, he's ours and hope springs eternal that what we hope we see will turn into reality.  We rejoice when he scores 20 against scrubs and look aside when he gives up points at the other end just as fast.

Probably more important than all the ink that is spilled around here arguing about what Wood could do if only given the chance, every pro-scout in the league can see these flaws.  Wood's trade value is almost certainly as an expiring contract that a bad team can sell to their fan base as a scorer while they wait to move on from him this summer.  He needs to go and after failing to get value for Brunson at the last TDL, this team won't make that same mistake again.  We see the trade rumors involving centers and presume expiring Powell is on his way out.  Are we really sure it isn't expiring Wood at the center of those proposals.

[Kammrath]

I think I've seen enough.  I've tried to be positive about how Wood could probably fit into a limited role here...a role I thought he could thrive in.  I accurately described that role this summer and have consistently and accurately pointed out what Kidd is trying to do to make Wood viable.  But, it isn't working out.  As of this morning, Wood is -1.5 in On-minus-Off.  EVERY SINGLE NBA team has a center who starts or at least has played 500 minutes with a higher D-EPM than Wood's pathetic 12.  Center's have to defend and Wood can't.  Even if you value offense, his O-EMP is 27th among centers...right behind freaking Mason Plumlee.  No one is giving value for this guy.

He's not our second best player who Kidd should start.  He's an offense-only role player off the bench.  

It doesn't matter what position you want to call him, he won't (and probably can't) play as a solo-big.  Kidd is protecting him against subs and alongside Maxi (and probably Green after watching last night).  If you don't like him in that scenario, pray we never have to see him starting consistently with DFS, THJ, SD and Luka.  If someone proposed a trade to bring Wood to Dallas, the board would point out that he's empty calories.  A ball-stopping offensive big who can't defend his position.  But, he's ours and hope springs eternal that what we hope we see will turn into reality.  We rejoice when he scores 20 against scrubs and look aside when he gives up points at the other end just as fast.

Probably more important than all the ink that is spilled around here arguing about what Wood could do if only given the chance, every pro-scout in the league can see these flaws.  Wood's trade value is almost certainly as an expiring contract that a bad team can sell to their fan base as a scorer while they wait to move on from him this summer.  He needs to go and after failing to get value for Brunson at the last TDL, this team won't make that same mistake again.  We see the trade rumors involving centers and presume expiring Powell is on his way out.  Are we really sure it isn't expiring Wood at the center of those proposals.

I am not here with you. Wood's defensive On/Off is -2.1 (not good) but SD (-3.9) and DFS (-8.7) are much worse. 

I truly believe the self-fulfilling prophecy is Kidd being convinced Wood wouldn't work and then using him in a way that doesn't work.