(11-16-2023, 09:08 AM)DanSchwartzgan Wrote: Wood in LA is a fascinating study. He's playing almost exclusively at the four. Either AD or Hayes is almost always in when he plays. His personal numbers are basically career worst in most categories (especially offensive categories). But, the team is winning his minutes by a massive margin. LA is +7.2 when he's on the floor and the On-Minus-Off is +17.7. The only other time that he's been an on-court positive in his career was that last season in Detroit where he also got most of his minutes at PF.
The LA coaches have figured out how to make the team around Wood successful. Given his history, I suspect the scoring efficiency and usage will eventually return. Will that be a good thing from a team success perspective? Obviously, the efficiency would be a good thing. It will be interesting to see how his usage and the on-court success intertwine as things move forward.
I always thought the 4 was his natural position. He has decent length but he's really too small to be a full time 5. His best defensive attribute is weak side shot blocking which matches more with being a PF. I think he gets pigeonholed in the 5 too often because he has old school post moves in his arsenal
Mavs are not officially eliminated from the tournament after tonight's game but they still need a ridiculous number of things to go right even if they beat the Rockets by an outrageous margin