Rock and a Hard Place

[StrandedOnBeauboisHill]

If Dallas keeps Wood, they need to do one of two things...1. put the right 'big wing' next to him.  2.  Get a starting center who is obviously better who moves Wood back to the bench.  The Wood decision is a great example of Rock and a Hard Place.  

Thanks for the thread and thoughts, always cool stuff.

I’ve been thinking about the above a lot lately and even more so since Wood got hurt.  We’ve looked great on offense a ton of time that we were starting Wood after the Green/Maxi/DFS injuries but the defensive output has really made me realize how true the fact is that Wood is better used as a bench big. I believed from game 1 that he should play more but was also wary of the defense and don’t really think that starting him really made a difference but it’s certainly clear now how much Maxi covers so many of his warts. I DO however believe that he’s too talented to not extend, it is worth the money to ensure that we have a Luka/Wood PNR as an option on this roster.

That brings me to the above. I agree that we need to do one of those things (and we tried an failed miserably with McGee) but do we see a path where we can extend Wood and accomplish both of the above?  I see our assets for this trade deadline as Hardaway/Bullock/Frank/SRPs and to a lesser extent extent Bertans/McGee because of their value.  If you’re getting a center back then you can always use Powell. That would leave us with Dinwiddies expiring all our firsts and whatever else is left from the previous group as our assets this offseason. Green and Hardy should be off limits for anyone who isn’t first or second team all nba, full stop.

When you look at it that way, can you extend wood, use the assets for this trade deadline on what of the needs stated above and then Dinwiddie and the picks on the other?  We would have a rotation that has Wood roasting second units in the second quarter but more importantly you would be able to close games with two of Wood/Maxi/DFS/new center/new wing. I think that kind of flexibility would make coaching decisions tough but also put us in a spot to matchup with any team you can think of.

The one thing this also puts pressure on is Greens continued ascension as one of the best players on this roster and rapid growth of Hardy because if you make the moves described, you’re really getting thin at playmaking again. Can a second unit with Green and Hardy making decisions be competent enough on offense for that need to go away? If the answer is yes and you go the route of supporting woods presence on the roster with the other moves suggested then I think you have a pretty potent team on your hands.

Apologies if some of this is redundant, having really caught up on this thread at all.

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One thing I wanted to note in my diatribe was that when Wood went down as everyone was coming back, my first thought was if this defense turns around I could see it very difficult for Wood to get his starting role back depending on how much time he misses.