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

[Kammrath]

Has Kidd been forced to start and play Wood more minutes due to injuries?  Since moving on from the McGee experiment, Powell was the starting center.  Kidd could easily have continued starting Powell, giving him roughly 20 minutes and sticking with Wood coming off the bench and getting upper 20s minutes.

Wood had some serious defensive struggles in the early part of the season.  I'm not so sure things would have gone nearly as well if Wood began the season as the starting center.

I feel like there is still a narrative out there that Kidd and the FO are not on the same page and Kidd has been trying to sabotage Wood.  I think the evidence suggests its more likely that they have been on the same page from the beginning and that Kidd's purpose has always been to get Wood focused on the defensive end.

I think Kidd COULD have continued with starting DP, but the writing was on the wall. Kidd was backed into a corner IMO with the poor performance of the team overall and the good performance of Wood. The media had been hounding him about starting Wood for literally weeks and there was no way he could hold out IMO without sabotaging his own place in DAL to an extent.

This is what I still believe about Wood and Kidd:

1) I think it is clear Kidd wanted McGee and thought he was what this team needed and promised him the starting role (and a three year contract---absolutely embarrassing from every angle).

2) I think Kidd was not 100% behind the Wood trade and that he did not see Wood as a center or a long term fit for this team. 

3) I think Kidd played his favorite players (I think there is a long track record of this being the case) to start the season in a way that ultimately hurt the win/loss record of this team. 

4) I think Kidd finally changed up, only because of injuries and him realizing that he was sabotaging himself and the team.

5) I do not believe Kidd was trying to "sabotage" Wood, NOT ONE BIT. I just think Kidd truly believed he knew best on the personnel front and he was going to prove that to people. But time proved him to be wrong, REALLY wrong. Thankfully injuries happened and he adjusted and did not completely sink the ship with his ego. 

6) I think this team would be about 26-11 (and top of the West) if Kidd would have played Wood like he is now off the bat. There would have been growing pains (of course!) but I think about 5 more wins were there for the taking. 

7) I think Kidd is really poor in personnel evaluations overall. I think he is an average coach, having some strengths for sure, but some really clear weaknesses. I think his ego and his belief in his own rightness is his greatest weakness.