Trade & FA 2023-24: OKC The Favorite For Nic Claxton Should He Leave BRK

[Ghost of Podkolzin]

Do I need to remind all that Dallas...

1. Gave up a FRP for Wood.
2. Clearly there was a disconnect between the FO and Wood on how/if Kidd would use him.
3. Cuban praised Wood midseason talking about how valuable he was.
4. Wood goes on a 17 game starting tear, averaging 20/10/2.5.
5. Kidd inexplicably benches him, as he's prone to do to players he doesn't like.
6. Wood ends the year with limited minutes and an even more limited role, even though all centers are exposed as spares.
7. Dallas lets Wood walk with no compensation. Bye bye FRP.

That is what is called asset malpractice. If you believe Wood is entirely to blame, then the FO didn't do their research. Regardless, there was a complete disconnect between the FO and Kidd. If you think Kidd is to blame (as this is his pattern), than it's again on the FO for hiring Kidd. Mark my words. Kidd's tenure in Dallas will not end well.

[SleepingHero]

I mean, we ourselves throw shade at Kidd, why is him finally retaliating such a problem for people? Also, saying “after what Dallas did”, is not saying much at all. Deserved slight shade is absolutely acceptable.

Because a dude whose reputation of being a locker room cancer and selfish attitude living right up to his reputation shows he hasn't learned (or even begun to understand) the reasons why literally no team wanted to offer more than a minimum contract this summer despite him being 1 of very few bigs in the league to average 20/10 as a starter on 52/36/77.  If he did, his first public appearance wouldn't be throwing shade at his former team for not giving him an "opportunity", which to me screams a level of delusion its on the verge of comedy. Especially because the team he's heading to he's most certainly going to average less than 26mpg than he had here, and will be a bench player behind at least 3 guys. 

And while we can argue over and over again the merits of whether or not Wood ever actually got a fair shot here, 2 things can be true at once:

1) Wood had all the opportunity in Dallas for a team starved for big man talent. But he didn't do the things that was asked of him to get on the court.  
2) Jason Kidd made a menial effort in trying to make Wood work here going so far as to significantly reduce his role when it became apparent he couldn't boost his trade value halfway into the season. 


The writing has been on the wall. Time and again a team has elected to not bring Wood back despite his flashes of talent, why do we think that is?

[Ghost of Podkolzin]

Because a dude whose reputation of being a locker room cancer and selfish attitude living right up to his reputation shows he hasn't learned (or even begun to understand) the reasons why literally no team wanted to offer more than a minimum contract this summer despite him being 1 of very few bigs in the league to average 20/10 as a starter on 52/36/77.  If he did, his first public appearance wouldn't be throwing shade at his former team for not giving him an "opportunity", which to me screams a level of delusion its on the verge of comedy. Especially because the team he's heading to he's most certainly going to average less than 26mpg than he had here, and will be a bench player behind at least 3 guys. 

And while we can argue over and over again the merits of whether or not Wood ever actually got a fair shot here, 2 things can be true at once:

1) Wood had all the opportunity in Dallas for a team starved for big man talent. But he didn't do the things that was asked of him to get on the court.  
2) Jason Kidd made a menial effort in trying to make Wood work here going so far as to significantly reduce his role when it became apparent he couldn't boost his trade value halfway into the season. 


The writing has been on the wall. Time and again a team has elected to not bring Wood back despite his flashes of talent, why do we think that is?

There's zero evidence of what you assert here, except the market that dried up for him.  Kidd has the reputation for borderline behavior, dating back to college, not Wood.  Let's revisit this topic at the TDL and see which of us is right.

[ItsGoTime]

Because a dude whose reputation of being a locker room cancer and selfish attitude living right up to his reputation shows he hasn't learned (or even begun to understand) the reasons why literally no team wanted to offer more than a minimum contract this summer despite him being 1 of very few bigs in the league to average 20/10 as a starter on 52/36/77.  If he did, his first public appearance wouldn't be throwing shade at his former team for not giving him an "opportunity", which to me screams a level of delusion its on the verge of comedy. Especially because the team he's heading to he's most certainly going to average less than 26mpg than he had here, and will be a bench player behind at least 3 guys. 

And while we can argue over and over again the merits of whether or not Wood ever actually got a fair shot here, 2 things can be true at once:

1) Wood had all the opportunity in Dallas for a team starved for big man talent. But he didn't do the things that was asked of him to get on the court.  
2) Jason Kidd made a menial effort in trying to make Wood work here going so far as to significantly reduce his role when it became apparent he couldn't boost his trade value halfway into the season. 


The writing has been on the wall. Time and again a team has elected to not bring Wood back despite his flashes of talent, why do we think that is?

You’re changing the argument. I don’t really care much about Wood anymore now that he isn’t a Mav, but making things up to make the breakup more than it is is not right. I agree with Wood not being a fit here and what seems to be a behind the scenes distraction. After the fact it’s quite evident after all the idiotic shade the coach threw all season and the Owner after he left (which is his MO).

I believe it’s also true that Houston didn’t really want him back (the reasons aren’t all that clear because their owner and coach don’t air out their dirty laundry like ours do, I mean, if they didn’t get a FRP offer would they have still had him last season?) and we know Dallas for sure doesn’t. Other than that, there is very little to suggest the reasons for his “bouncing around the league”, your guess isn’t better than anyone else’s. No worse than a witch hunt to make you feel better about something.

His quote finally returning the shade at Kidd after being the butt all season is perfectly acceptable. There was no need to defend Kidd in any way.

[IamDougieFresh]

Where were you at during the regular season while I was 1v1000 in the trenches defending Wood, Ghost of Podkolzin? I could have used your assistance.

[ItsGoTime]

Where were you at during the regular season while I was 1v1000 in the trenches defending Wood, Ghost of Podkolzin? I could have used your assistance.

You weren’t the only one in that. I mean, even KL wasn’t one of the against guys. Not exactly a for guy either.

[IamDougieFresh]

You weren’t the only one in that. I mean, even KL wasn’t one of the against guys. Not exactly a for guy either.

Perhaps I exaggerated a bit for dramatic effect...

My final statement on Christian Wood for a while: I don't care what anyone says. If Kidd would have played a Luka - Kyrie - Green - Maxi - Wood lineup big minutes, they would have made the playoffs. That being said, with what they were able to do this offseason, I am glad that they did not make the playoffs. 

At the time I was all for that 17m/yr extension. I didn't believe the front office could do so well with limited assets and I didn't know about the new CBA. I'm glad they let him go now that I see what we have.

Long story short, I am probably the biggest believer in the current roster here. To the point where I need to get Tim Hardaway out of here for nothing if they have to in order to make room for other players. I wish Wood well and think he is in a great situation in LA.

[IamDougieFresh]

This is my 9 man playoff rotation. More like end of season rotation. Luka and Kyrie's minutes will certainly be higher in the playoffs.

[Jym]

Perhaps I exaggerated a bit for dramatic effect...

My final statement on Christian Wood for a while: I don't care what anyone says. If Kidd would have played a Luka - Kyrie - Green - Maxi - Wood lineup big minutes, they would have made the playoffs. That being said, with what they were able to do this offseason, I am glad that they did not make the playoffs. 

At the time I was all for that 17m/yr extension. I didn't believe the front office could do so well with limited assets and I didn't know about the new CBA. I'm glad they let him go now that I see what we have.

Long story short, I am probably the biggest believer in the current roster here. To the point where I need to get Tim Hardaway out of here for nothing if they have to in order to make room for other players. I wish Wood well and think he is in a great situation in LA.

Yeah I absolutely hated the way that Kidd handled the entire situation but like you I'm glad we didn't end up paying Wood big money
Now we just have to worry about who will be Kidd's newest enemy. Will he have some weird, irrational hatred of Grant Williams? That would suck

[ItsGoTime]

Yeah I absolutely hated the way that Kidd handled the entire situation but like you I'm glad we didn't end up paying Wood big money
Now we just have to worry about who will be Kidd's newest enemy. Will he have some weird, irrational hatred of Grant Williams? That would suck

Quotes of bringing Lively along slowly have already started.

[Jym]

Quotes of bringing Lively along slowly have already started.

Yeah I feel like it's a given that Lively and Hardy will get next to zero minutes and everyone will be bitching about that. But I'll just go ahead and take that as a fact now and be excited when they're actually given a defined role

[surfpuckmd]

You’re changing the argument. I don’t really care much about Wood anymore now that he isn’t a Mav, but making things up to make the breakup more than it is is not right. I agree with Wood not being a fit here and what seems to be a behind the scenes distraction. After the fact it’s quite evident after all the idiotic shade the coach threw all season and the Owner after he left (which is his MO).

I believe it’s also true that Houston didn’t really want him back (the reasons aren’t all that clear because their owner and coach don’t air out their dirty laundry like ours do, I mean, if they didn’t get a FRP offer would they have still had him last season?) and we know Dallas for sure doesn’t. Other than that, there is very little to suggest the reasons for his “bouncing around the league”, your guess isn’t better than anyone else’s. No worse than a witch hunt to make you feel better about something.

His quote finally returning the shade at Kidd after being the butt all season is perfectly acceptable. There was no need to defend Kidd in any way.

I appreciate your defense of Christian Wood.  I have a few things to add.

Houston may have traded Christian Wood because they were power-tanking.  Wood was their most established and productive veteran.  They hoped to lose more by trading Christian Wood.   This was a good move as the Rockets finished with the 2nd-worst record in the NBA.  They were able to obtain the 4th pick in the draft this season so that worked out well for them.  

The reason he bounced around the league prior to the 2019-2020 season may be because he just wasn't a particularly good player.

He improved his game and became a positive contributor with the Pistons under a really good coach, Dwayne Casey.  Dwayne Casey is not an antisocial criminal like Jason Kidd and Casey had a lot of positive things to say about Christian Wood when Christian left the Pistons.

I think it's possible that Christian Wood is generally a poor teammate who doesn't listen to coaches.  I think it's possible that he's also a really low-IQ player.   He is however, a very talented offensive player and all his public statements with the Mavericks seemed professional.  

Maybe his limited free agency offers were impacted by his poor relationship with Jason Kidd.  

Maybe the bigger part of that problem was actually Jason Kidd.

I'm in a weird spot in that I hate the Lakers and want them to fail but I'm kind of pulling for Christian Wood to play well and redeem himself this upcoming season.  I think he was treated poorly by Kidd and once again, Mark Cuban had to publicly insult a player who left the Mavericks.  Why can't our organization simply thank players for their service and move on?

[Jmaciscool]

That calculated hit job he and his agent tried against the Mavs midseason through the Mavs Outsider Podcast (indicative that they couldn't get that through more legitimate channels, isn't it?) probably did as much to tank his value this summer as anything the Mavs might/might not be saying about him on the gossip network. 

I don't recall this, what did he and his agent say about the Mavs?

[omahen]

I don't recall this, what did he and his agent say about the Mavs?

Around the TDL some guys at some internet show quoted his agent (saying his agent told them) that Dallas is intentionally tanking his value to resign him cheaply in the summer.

[Jmaciscool]

Around the TDL some guys at some internet show quoted his agent (saying his agent told them) that Dallas is intentionally tanking his value to resign him cheaply in the summer.

Ah, thanks, I completely missed that apparently.

[mvossman]

On another subject, am I to understand that all the dates have passed, and that pretty much anyone involved in our numerous trade fantasies over the past month are now free to be moved?

If so, it seems like this is the team going into training camp, nay?

And if THAT's so, I wish someone would explain to me why McGee was stretch waived.

I was always skeptical that some trade would magically appear when we hit a date a player can be traded.  We have seen these kind of trades get announced well before they can officially be executed if they have been agreed upon.  The stretch waive is looking more and more like an old Mavs FO move where they are creating opportunity that will likely go nowhere.

[Dahlsim]

Do I need to remind all that Dallas...

1.  Gave up a FRP for Wood.
2.  Clearly there was a disconnect between the FO and Wood on how/if Kidd would use him.
3.  Cuban praised Wood midseason talking about how valuable he was.
4.  Wood goes on a 17 game starting tear, averaging 20/10/2.5.
5.  Kidd inexplicably benches him, as he's prone to do to players he doesn't like.
6.  Wood ends the year with limited minutes and an even more limited role, even though all centers are exposed as spares.
7.  Dallas lets Wood walk with no compensation.  Bye bye FRP.

That is what is called asset malpractice.  If you believe Wood is entirely to blame, then the FO didn't do their research.  Regardless, there was a complete disconnect between the FO and Kidd.  If you think Kidd is to blame (as this is his pattern), than it's again on the FO for hiring Kidd.  Mark my words.  Kidd's tenure in Dallas will not end well.

When you consider the Brunson talent-lost-for-nothing-asset then the Javale McGee from-starter-to-stretch-waived-asset on top of the Christian Wood supercheap-to-a-top-West-Mavs-contender-obstacle , this much is undeniable.  

That is what is called asset malpractice.

Mavs have some splainin to do especially if they end up getting majorly impacted by losses to Wood's Lakers.  

Wonder if the Mavs players will take those game personally?  We know Wood will.

[KillerLeft]

Ah, thanks, I completely missed that apparently.

Yeah, and Omahen's version is the mild one. His agent was (apparently) making claims that the player was lied to, intentionally smeared aggressively around the league...all sorts of stuff.

[surfpuckmd]

Yeah, and Omahen's version is the mild one. His agent was (apparently) making claims that the player was lied to, intentionally smeared aggressively around the league...all sorts of stuff.

Where did you see this?  

I am curious if he is pointing fingers at anyone in particular.  Kidd?  Cuban?  

I hope that Nico was not part of that as he is the one part of that trio that I like and I have some hope for.

[Ghost of Podkolzin]

Where were you at during the regular season while I was 1v1000 in the trenches defending Wood, Ghost of Podkolzin? I could have used your assistance.

Sorry, brother.  I would have been there for you.  HUGE screw up by the Mavs.  HUGE.