GAME 18: DAL (9-9) @ TOR (10-9) | 100-105 loss | Mavs 1-6 on the road

[mvossman]

I think Wood-McGee needs to be given a shot. First of all, if you can turn McGee into a valuable contributor, that’s a big win. Wood is only 6’9” (with really long arms) but more importantly he only weighs about 210 — and that matters when games turn more physical. The ideal McGee brings size, physicality, solid screen setting etc. He done that at a high level as recently as last season. He needs to figure it out in Dallas and I think he will. Next, McGee is on the record saying he likes playing with Wood and prefers to play next to a scoring PF. Let McGee play the roll man early and Wood can space the floor. The you can go to the Luka-Wood pick and roll in the fourth quarter. 

The second big reason why you want to start Wood is i think it’s a smarter way to play your cards. If McGee isn’t effective, you just bring in Kleber. And when Powell enters you have Kleber-Powell on the floor together.

I'm fine with playing them a few minutes together, but McGee has been completely useless as a starter and a decent contributor coming off the bench.  I have no interest in putting him back in the starting lineup.

To me the easy answer is to pair Wood with Maxi to start and finish games.  You want Wood playing more minutes than Maxi, but I think it makes more sense to sneak that in throughout the game, ideally against second units.