DAL OFFSEASON: Trade & FA | Mavs "mostly done...but you never know."

[KillerLeft]

Anyway, my read of the tea leaves is Wood in a S&T deal for Wright. 

Agree this seems reasonable. But Wood is not a strong defender and he's certainly not a beefy enforcer. I've read Wood has been trying to maintain weight and Casey even said he needs to get stronger. His ideal playing weight is 240. I believe he played around 230 last year. I've heard he's down to 220 now. That doesn't speak to his maturity or work ethic during the offseason -- both of which have been major question marks for Wood over his career. 

The upside on Wood is there but how comfortable are you committing $60-70M to a player who looks a who lot like the next Whiteside? ... especially when Carlisle has found great success finding rim rolling bigs off the scrap heap. For example, a guy like WCS might give you 80% of Wood, at 20% of the price.

So, the concerns about Wood could be valid. I'm not here to discount them. Ultimately, I'm way less concerned about him light than I would be about a dinosaur style big like Drummond. When Drummond types don't play hard enough they are literally unplayable (on a team trying to win games). Wood might come with risk, but at least the upside is a player who can play like a MODERN center - run the floor, rim run off of screens, SHOOT from the outside, SWITCH on defense...and he even has a high post face up game. He can put the ball on the floor in short spurts and create shots for himself. In that last way, I think he might be better than KP, even (though this is on a very limited sample size). 

If we knew the Mavs' thinking, I'd trust it. They've bought lots of cred from me recently.