PRESEASON GAME 1: DAL @ OKC | 98-96 win

[DanSchwartzgan]

I'm in lockstep with you on all of the logic as applied to what they're doing. The difference is that you seem to like it and see it as a step in the right direction while I see it as a willful turning of the back on what made their defense as good as it was last season.

You say Wood can't anchor a defense as the lone big. I think there's a lot of validity to that claim. But that doesn't mean he's automatically going to have the foot speed, direction-change agility or high motor to be a switchable forward as he plays with a center, either. That scares me so much more, personally. 

I don’t know if it is “like” as much as it is an attempt to be predictive based on what they’ve done in the past. But, as preferences go:

1. If Powell is going to be on the roster, I ‘like’ him getting some time and think he will.  He has tended to contribute to winning basketball.  Him and Luka working the PnR against bench players with 3 shooters on the floor.  I suspect that is a plus lineup.  It would be different if McGee was a 24-28 minute guy.  I wouldn’t be making this argument.  But, McGee isn’t that guy.

2. If Wood is on your team, I ‘like’ him better with another big better than I do as a lone big…especially on defense.  

The evidence is clear that Wood with another big is a better defensive lineup than Wood as a lone big despite the concern over switchability.  If a guard blows by him on a switch, would you rather have Maxi waiting at the rim or DFS?  Maxi, right?  Especially since his inclusion doesn’t exclude DFS from playing.  If Jokic overpowers Wood, who do you want waiting at the rim?  Again, Maxi.  Especially if it is possible to also have DFS in the game doubling from the perimeter (or Bullock or Green).  There just isn’t a scenario - defensively - where the best answer to the question is Wood and DFS as the two tallest players on the court.

But, but, but, what about 5-out?  You still get that to the extent Wood and Maxi are in the game together.

I get that there are concerns about switching.  But, that isn’t the only way to make Wood look bad.  Go back and dig through the lineup data Wood’s last year in Detroit (with Sweeney on staff) and his first year in Houston.  The defensive numbers when Wood was with a center were MUCH better than they were when he wasn’t.