11-05-2022, 12:20 PM
(This post was last modified: 11-05-2022, 12:21 PM by KillerLeft.)
(11-05-2022, 11:39 AM)mvossman Wrote: Are you still dead set on trading him if we play him as a PF (or to avoid a semantic argument, always play him in two big lineups)?
Oh, for sure.
Do you think he's going to extend and be happy playing 20-25 minutes per? I don't. I think his fit here is as a top-6 type, and one around whom the offense is designed, to boot. That means 28-35 minutes, I think, even if coming off of the bench.
So, let's imagine playing him that amount of time with another big. Possible? Maybe, but should they do it? To answer that (in my opinion) you have to ask yourself if Wood, defensively, is able to operate at the level of, idk, say...Mobley in Cleveland. HE'S a guy who can play next to a big against a myriad of modern basketball concepts.
Since I don't in any way remotely view Wood as capable in the same ways Mobley is, physically, I don't believe that approach (Wood plus a big) will ever be effective enough to serve as the default lineup for an elite team. Period, point blank.
If you play it out in your head, objectively, I think it's pretty easy to see that a bad defender can and will hurt you in the end, no matter what position he plays. The Mavs will always work around Luka, of course, and honestly, I don't think that's as bad as people make it out to be, but it's bad enough that you don't want to compound the problem with others if you can avoid it.
There seems to be this sense around here that the 5 is somehow more difficult to play, defensively, than the 4. I think that's true for DFS, maybe, but for a guy like Wood, I'd say confidently that the exact opposite is glaringly obvious. He has plenty of size, so that's not an issue. At which position is he more likely to have a speed and agility advantage over his opponent?
The moral of the story, for me, is that either:
A) Wood becomes a more disciplined defender through coaching and the opportunity to play on a good team whose games matter, an eventuality I find infinitely more likely if he's playing a position for which he's actually suited, or
B) Wood does not become a defender passable enough to exist on a contender, in which case moving him to a different position (where he is more likely to be athletically bested) doesn't really help matters all that much.
If it's B, what even is the point? I say play him where he has a chance to be a championship piece any team in the league would want and if he can't do it you just find a way to move on.