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

[KillerLeft]

At some point, don't you have to blame the player?

No doubt, and I don't think anyone disagrees with this. 

Like @"DanSchwartzgan", I'm getting tired of the conversation, but basically, the disconnect has been/is about the binary nature of people's opinions.

I think it's very clear that Wood's less than ideal path to gaining a toehold in the NBA (something he still hasn't accomplished, definitively) is in large part self-inflicted. There is loads of info out there about missing practices and being generally unprofessional. He really doesn't seem to "get it", generally speaking. 

But, many of us saw his talent as a lifeline for a roster that really, really needed a talent infusion. It seemed like it was in the team's best interest to meet him halfway in an attempt to "fix" him. To take the time that other teams wouldn't in order to get him "caught up" to where a mid to late 20's pro player should be. If successful, this would've been a way to fix/flip the asset/talent situation in large part...to erase the Porzingis mistake and cover up for other, similar missteps. The Mavs were (are?) in a unique situation where they had no choice but to be good to a certain extent, but had no way of getting to the top of the league. A young, rebuilding team would have no interest in dealing with the headaches of Wood because of his age and a world of more attractive possibilities in terms of young potential, which is probably the hardest thing to pinpoint for those guys, and no contender is going to upset something that's working almost well enough to feature a journeyman who doesn't really have the requisite experience and know how to slide into a well-oiled machine. The Mavericks were in the specific situation where taking a risk like that made sense, which is why I thought they made the trade in the first place. 

On top of all that, what was exciting to me is that if this project is/had been successful, Wood is the type of center that's working in the league right now. A guy with quick feet (for a big, not for a forward, obviously) who can shoot or handle from a face up position, but who can also punish people in the paint, offensively. I saw (and still see) no reason he can't grow to be a fine help side defender and shot blocker. He has the length, quickness and agility for it., and he seems to like to compete. He just doesn't always see the way the actions are developing far enough in advance to be in good position. Even a dumb guy can be taught that stuff, if he's trying to learn (maybe he's not, and that's the part we can't see). 

I bet Wood thought this was an opportunity to earn a featured role on a good team. He has basically said things that indicate as much. Whether you feel like he hasn't been given enough of a chance or that he's squandered another good one (the answer is always somewhere in between), what drives me crazy is the idea that in the situation they were in over the summer, losing Brunson for nothing, they traded a 1st for a guy not to see if he could be what he thinks he can be, but to try to convince him he's what they thought he could be before getting him in the building. That's not a "gamble", it's a waste of time. 

TL;DR: it's possible that what I wanted for Wood is similar to what they wanted for him, and he just couldn't get it done. But, a lot of the people on the other side of this season long argument seemed to have a different vision in mind for him, and that vision has been much closer to what has played out for him, opportunity wise. I don't know that it's factual they were right (lots of behind the scenes stuff we'll never know), but if they were, that's not something I would've traded for at the time. I have never advocated for the Mavs to "give" him a role, but I think I only make that trade in the hopes of him "earning" the role I'm envisioning, and not some silly 20 minute bench role in which he's a heat check scorer and we're all just resigned to the idea that he's not a core player. Sure, that can be a valuable piece, but not worth that trade this summer, given the situation the Mavs were in. 

Now, after the Irving trade, I have almost no life force left for "developing" him, either way, and I doubt the Mavs do, either.