ROSTER TALK: Mavs favs for Vogel if no HC job exists. Kyrie handshake deal?

[mvossman]

I am too in the sense of "bird in hand" kind of thinking, IF Kidd will play Wood the minutes and in the role he has been in recently. My fear is Maxi coming back and Wood having his minutes cut by like 10 a game and his role being minimized next to another big.

Since Maxi has gone out (7 games) and Kidd has been FORCED to play Wood as the lone big and with bigger minutes:

On/Off Net: +19.5 (team best)....+9.1 On, -10.4 Off
Mins: 33.7
Pts: 20.4
Rbds: 9.1
Asts: 1.7
Stls: 1.0
Blks: 2.0
FG%: 52.6
3P%: 35.6
FT%: 77.1

I'm not sure why Wood would play less minutes with Maxi available or why Maxi (who is basically Dorian or Bullock offensively) would have any impact on his role?

Clearly our only playable bigs right now are Wood and Powell.  Powell has been starting ever since Kidd wisely gave up the McGee experience.  When Powell went down for a couple of games, Wood played well as the starting lone big (and definitely looked better defensively than earlier in the season although there are still lapses) and has started ever since.  I don't think his current starting role and minutes have anything to do with Maxi being out.  

Like most folks I think Wood should have gotten a few more minutes in the early games, and I would have put him in the starting lineup sooner than Kidd did (and it would have possibly been longer without the Powell injury).  But I do think he is really trying to get Wood to focus on defense, and I think there has been progress in that area.