GAME 8: TOR (5-4) @ DAL (5-3) | 111-110 win

[KillerLeft]

As 1998 pointed out, Maxi and Powell can effectively be PF from a defensive quickness standpoint.  If Wood is an elite offensive player that generally needs one of those two guys on the court from a defensive standpoint, I think we are better off holding on to him rather than sending him out for likely pennies on the dollar (If we are trading him at the TDL I don't see his value being any better than what we sent out for him).

Great, only what if it's not up to you?

Someone is going to offer him a featured spot on a team next season, and the salary that comes with that. I obviously don't know that, but I feel it's a fairly safe guess. 

Will that team be stupid to do so? Quite possibly. But at this rate, we won't actually know the answer to that question because our team won't have even attempted to see if he can have a featured role on a winning team. 

Look, we're only 8 games in, so I get that this is all a work in progress and it's super, super possible this ends up being a silly argument. 

Truth be told, it's not Kidd's tentative approach to integrating Wood early on that has me spooked, it's more @"DanSchwartzgan"'s declaration that Wood just isn't capable of being the guy they need that's pissing me off. It's the attitude of "obviously they won't even try to use him that way." That is WRONG on so many levels. I am hoping against hope that the actual Mavs aren't that short-sighted.

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I have seen enough on D over the years to know for an almost certain fact that he is capable of playing decent enough defense to warrant him playing more than he is. It is like Luka, you don't sit him because he is a negative on D, his O more than makes up for it.

Totally. 

Point differential is the name of the game, not holding opposing teams to some arbitrary range of score on average.

If featuring Luka/Wood leads to more of an increase in scoring than it causes your points allowed to increase, then it results in your team being better. The sooner you find out that's the way you want to go, the longer you have to teach the lineups you'll actually use in the playoffs how to improve, defensively.