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

[KillerLeft]

Maybe it's somehow about a free agency quest coming. But there's another way to look at this other than it being a plan powder play.

1st we need to notice that, if McMahon's inference is accurate, Wood is good on an extension of some sort. It's just the Mavs who have hesitations. That tells us something different that was being assumed.

2nd it's looking like the Mavs aren't all fully convinced yet they want to be stuck with Wood - or that anyone else will be either.

If that's the case, then the shorter contract is a compromise in multiple ways. It lets them make a commitment to keep him, without so much commitment that it will strangle them if it doesn't work. It also allows Wood to up his game, so that he has a longer window (rather than just a few months) to show the Mavs they need him for much longer.

It becomes a 2-year tryout. In which he still gets paid with a raise (presumably) over what he was making before. And if he does become an all-star by playing in Dallas, as he hopes, then he gets to a new contract sooner, so there's incentive and upside for him as well.

Agreed. 

I think at least part of the thinking is keeping the OPTION of creating cap space in the fairly near future, but that certainly isn't the ONLY reason they might be thinking this way, as you illustrate above. 

I'm encouraged by this talk. It seems we're starting to see "negotiating in the press" which, to me, is a welcome sign that things are progressing.