Christian Wood: What am i missing?

[Wagonband]

They are chasing someone better, which usually backfires.

Wood has been really good imho. He has his flaws, and he started the season bad on the defence, but before he got hurt he suddenly became a blocking monster.

He is over his head as the focal point of the offense, but as an occasional number 2 and now number 3 he will be excellent i do believe. I really don't understand why the Mavs would want to trade him. He also seems to have great chemistry with the team and Luka, yet they look to move him. I'm baffled. They won't get anyone nearly as good as him in return

[Dirk]

This guy has looked fine in Dallas. He isn't a "malcontent". He does not have bad body language. Even with the trade rumours, he handled it well.

For no good reason, not only did he not start at the beginning of the year, but he also wasn't getting enough minutes... but he was productive when he played and has managed to sustain it throughout the season.

It doesn't make a lot of sense that this happens: team trades for a 'flawed' player. Said player actually outperforms expectations and shows himself worthy of a new contract. Now team tries to to trade him away.

[76ciology]

His offense is a curse.

Because he can score, he conserves his energy on defense.

[hippesthippo]

Exactly. Offensively he’s a stud but you can’t score 25 and give up 30.

Did mavs just notice about his bad defence or did they genuinely expect him to learn how to play defence at the age of 28?

Read my post above. His defense is NOT that bad, pretty much none of the defensive metrics paint him as any kind of horrible defender. At worst he's a slightly below average defensive player who you don't want matched up against large post up bigs, and is a bad one on one defender, but who actually does a decent job switching and has underrated help defense inside. He's simply too light weight. You ideally pair him with a defensive big who can take care of guarding the Jokic/Embiid's of the world. Unfortunately the Mavs don't have that kind of player to help cover some of his defensive weaknesses especially with Kleber out. Playing him at the C as the only big is equivalent to asking Luka to guard fast PG's. But Luka can do a more than decent job against 3's and even 4's especially on the block because he's super strong for his size.

I tried telling everyone when he left Detroit that he's a Forward not a Center.

For some reason nobody believed me. Well, here we are.

[Sane]

The problem is he's a bad defender. The metrics are wrong because the coach is putting him out there with the best defenders possible, pick any game randomly out of a hat and watch it. He's a bad defender. If you were his teammate, you wouldn't want him to be part of your defensive 5-man net that has to interact well with each other.

What makes it worse is he's not a guy who wants to play defense and happens to bad at it. He's a guy who doesn't give a sh*t about defense and you have to keep telling him to do it. Which means when he's having a rough game, his defense will just drop easily. All it takes is to have 3-4 bad defensive minutes to create a turnaround for the other team.

If he were the 4 and you had a great defensive 5 it would work better. However, a contending team can hide only one player at a time and that's going to be Doncic or Irving. You can't build a team around a Christian Wood, he has to suit the star players.

He doesn't do anything for his teammates (the systemic benefits of a player come from team defense and assists). He's worse than most at those things.

If a team's main stars were good defenders and you had a good defensive C, it could work. For example on the Clippers it might work. But most teams' stars are not playing great defense in the regular season so he has put himself in a situation where there's barely a team where he's a positive contributor to WINS.

Mavs should bring him off the bench or move him. It's what's best for the team.

[hippesthippo]

What everyone is missing is that Christian Wood is a Forward. He always has been and always will be. He plays offense like a Forward and defends like a Forward. He attacks from the perimeter on offense and is best defensively as a weak-side shot blocker who can also switch and slide his feet.

What the Mavs are missing is a legitimate Center.

Seriously, how on earth is Dwight Powell still getting minutes.

[brutalitops]

Horrific 1v1 defending, if your help defender is going to be a wing/PF its a bit worrying. Im sure there is a scheme for him

Sure if he's paired with Giannis, AD, Draymond, Tucker, Bam, He could be fine. But he's not, He's with Luka, They needed him to at least hold his own and he can't

Offense he just, Well he doesnt run hard. This isn't a huge issue as I mean Luka Doesnt either, Maybe pairing him with Kyrie who likes to get up and down makes him move, But its something Dallas need, which he doesnt offer

So thus Kidd doesnt like playing him 38MPG

[hippesthippo]

Horrific 1v1 defending, if your help defender is going to be a wing/PF its a bit worrying. Im sure there is a scheme for him

Sure if he's paired with Giannis, AD, Draymond, Tucker, Bam, He could be fine. But he's not, He's with Luka, They needed him to at least hold his own and he can't.

So thus Kidd doesnt like playing him

[Pachinko_]

The problem is he's a bad defender. The metrics are wrong because the coach is putting him out there with the best defenders possible, pick any game randomly out of a hat and watch it. He's a bad defender. If you were his teammate, you wouldn't want him to be part of your defensive 5-man net that has to interact well with each other.

For real. Pick any 10 min highlights and watch how the other team scores, he's almost always around and doing not much at all.

[Lalouie]

Now i know he had issues in Houston, but Houston is pretty toxic and everyone has issues there. This year hes been very good for the Mavs, especially as a starter. I don't remember Dallas' exact record when starting Wood with Doncic, but its a very good record IIRC. Yet, supposedly they wanna give him away. I don't get it

the combined defense of luka + kyrie + wood makes at least 5maybe6 players on the opposing team better. the mavs don't need wood now that they have kyrie IF they can find someone who plays d

[Moahst]

Wood can score but he's a selfish offensive player and defensively he's just not motivated. I don't think he has a job on a championship team.

[ConSarnit]

I have to believe there is something else going on with Wood. Pretty much every team he is on is willing to cut bait with him and never look back. I know he’s been on some bad teams but his theoretical skill set should make him in demand. Instead he can’t catch on anywhere (and it seems like the Mavs/Kidd might be half-done with him too).

There has to be more than meets the eye with Wood (in a bad way).

[JonFromVA]

Even when he came to Detroit, he was known for being a talented malcontent that wasn't worth keeping around. He played great for Detroit - many fans thought he was better than Drummond and maybe he was (high bar, I know). But Weaver was not that interested in keeping him around. Just like New Orleans wasn't. Just like Milwaukee wasn't. Just like Houston wasn't. Just like Dallas isn't. I haven't been in any of those locker rooms, but I feel like he just has to be an anti-culture guy.

Yep, the only team he's lasted more than one season on has been Houston which should tell us something.

[dirkforpres]

I love him on the Mavs, and hate that Dallas will likely lose him this week, but the reason he’s on the market is because he’s an impending free agent since he hasn’t signed the extension that was offered. Mavs don’t want to lose him for nothing ala Jalen Brunson.

[DreamTeam09]

I love him on the Mavs, and hate that Dallas will likely lose him this week, but the reason he’s on the market is because he’s an impending free agent since he hasn’t signed the extension that was offered. Mavs don’t want to lose him for nothing ala Jalen Brunson.

That's not the reason, he wants to be a mav. If the Mavs want him in the summer they'll sign him and he'll agree.

Mavs just think they can do better for some odd reason, play the man. It's not like he's useless on defence, he blocks some shots and grabs rbs

[Ballerhogger]

He’s awful defender really curious how many minutes he’s gets at center ….

[Mr B]

Its his defense.

Exactly. Offensively he’s a stud but you can’t score 25 and give up 30.

Did mavs just notice about his bad defence or did they genuinely expect him to learn how to play defence at the age of 28?

They knew it before trading for him. His offense was too good to pass up though for what he was traded for.

[Kiss of Death]

Apparently the Mavs like him and want to keep him but they are afraid of losing him in FA and getting nothing in return. Just like Brunson.

[Ballerhogger]

Apparently the Mavs like him and want to keep him but they are afraid of losing him in FA and getting nothing in return. Just like Brunson.

Who’s going give him more than they will ? If he plays how we think he will at least . Shouldn’t be problem . See how he does

[TheShow2021]

What everyone is missing is that Christian Wood is a Forward. He always has been and always will be. He plays offense like a Forward and defends like a Forward. He attacks from the perimeter on offense and is best defensively as a weak-side shot blocker who can also switch and slide his feet.

What the Mavs are missing is a legitimate Center.

Seriously, how on earth is Dwight Powell still getting minutes.

Some food for thought:

w/o Luka

Wood 479 min -8.1 NetRtg
Powell 307 min. 1.0 NetRtg

w/ Luka
Wood 758 min. 4.6 NetRtg
Powell 677 min. 10.0 NetRtg
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I'm not sure the Mavs should prioritize a legitimate center, but if they are, by my estimation the focus should be all on defense. Playing center on offense with Luka has to be the best gig in the NBA. Luka could make dozens of centers into offensive beasts. And center, in certain contexts is the Running Back of the NBA. A position you can get away with paying a little and getting decent production.

So investing 20m/yr in an offensive first center like Wood is a bad idea. If they are going to invest in the position at all, it has to be one of the defensive first variety, especially considering they could pay someone like Dwight Howard the min, and his difference making wouldn't be all that far off of Wood's.

Myles Turner or Capela would be a nice boost, but I bet that money and assets spent on a guy like OG would would make a much bigger difference.

I think JKidd and Nico have a better handle on this than the majority of the people on this board who think they know better. There are legitimate reasons Wood hasn't been getting a much bigger minute share than Powell.