Christian Wood didn’t want to leave Detroit

vic · Post #121 » by **vic** » Sun Dec 27, 2020 9:43 pm

[

According to James Edwards (

), Weaver was not willing to pay $14 million per season to Wood. If true, Wood's intentions were irrelevant (and I see no reason to doubt his claim that he was willing to re-sign in Detroit); Weaver would not have kept him at that price anyway.

"Wood gets close to $14 million per year from Houston. Was told the Pistons didn't want to go that high for C-Wood. Detroit elected to go with Grant at a higher price instead."[/quote]

That Tweet is the smoking gun.

Whether you like it or not, Weaver is on the clock and he will be judged by if he can replace the talent of the floor spacing, rim scoring, unicorn big Christian Wood that he underestimated, and the 3& D PF in Grant that he overestimated.

Post #122 » by **Snakebites** » Sun Dec 27, 2020 9:50 pm

whitehops wrote:i can see people having a problem with the grant signing, but i think it's wrong to lump plumlee in with that. for starters, assuming you think plumlee is a solid back and a solid spot starter, $8 mil per year is very reasonable. guys like tristan thompson, jakob poeltl and dario saric are getting roughly the same, and they are ALL getting less than the MLE.

personally i would've re-signed wood for the same contract houston gave him, signed plumlee to the deal we signed him for and rolled with the wings we have now (get sekou more minutes!).

so yeah, would've much rather have had wood over grant but i don't think it's a franchise-altering mistake in that wood would have brought us to relevance.

This is where I'm at, at least with respect to Wood.

That's why I said I thought people were overreacting to his first outing as a Rocket.

We'll have to wait and see how he (and the Rockets) do through the season to see if I'm wrong. People are describing him in terms that would place him as a max player- it's really clear that's not where he is.

Of course, the flip side of this is that it usually isn't one franchise altering move that dooms a franchise- whatever the narrative surrounding a team is. It's usually more of a death by a thousand cuts sort of deal, and letting Wood walk in favor of giving Grant more money appears to be a not insubstantial cut, even if I don't really view Wood in the same star-powered light that others do.

buzzkilloton · Post #123 » by **buzzkilloton** » Mon Dec 28, 2020 12:57 am

Thing with Wood is everyone loved watching him. Its nice to have a guy on the floor you really like to entertain you. Like in yesterdays game if we had Wood I'd have something to root for. None of the guys on our team give me that feeling currently. Would we have been good with Wood? No not at all but more entertaining for sure.

Phobo_Phile · Post #124 » by **Phobo_Phile** » Mon Dec 28, 2020 2:35 am

I still maintain that it's irresponsible at best, and woefully incompetent at worst, for the Pistons to have given Plumlee and Grant what they got yet not resist to pay Wood. The excuse we as fans keep telling ourselves is that "well maybe Wood didn't want to stay." But I still don't see any reason why we couldn't split the difference between those two got and give it to Wood while also giving him a starting spot. Even if Wood ends up not doing much, the evidence that this is a front office that only bends its wills towards favoritism and nepotism is all there.

vege · Post #125 » by **vege** » Mon Dec 28, 2020 4:48 am

He almost help Harden to beat Portland yesterday, Portland at their best, with CJ and Dame playing out of their mind and Nurkic also playing well.

Wood was unstoppable, he did whatever he wanted on offense, he dunked and pooped on whoever he wanted, and he was good on defense. The only reason the 9 man Houston lost to Portland in the OT is because Harden didn't see Wood wide open in the last play, and tried to give Tucker the ball.

This was a franchise crippling move. Guys like Wood don't grow on trees and 14 mil per year for him is very cheap. Christian Wood and Josh Jackson would've been a good start, we would need our rookies to develop but we could have something.

Right now, we got subpar prospects (who are not being developed) and overpaid veterans and a good cheap young player in Josh Jackson.

We've done the same mistake before, when we donated Middleton to Milwaukee. But this time it was 100 times more obvious.

Uncle Mxy · Post #126 » by **Uncle Mxy** » Mon Dec 28, 2020 10:57 am

vege wrote:We've done the same mistake before, when we donated Middleton to Milwaukee. But this time it was 100 times more obvious.

Middleton should've gotten enough playing time to make it more obvious.

vege · Post #127 » by **vege** » Mon Dec 28, 2020 2:18 pm

If someone didn't watch the game and want to have an idea how good Wood was

Watch on YouTube

NYPiston · Post #128 » by **NYPiston** » Mon Dec 28, 2020 3:08 pm

DBC10 wrote:
bstein14 wrote:This is what ultimately does long lasting damage to organizations. Not getting anything for lost assets like these and or holding on to assets until they lose value

The Wood transaction is going to be noticeable for some time

Weaver seems to be bigger on character than talent.
It's just so frustrating that they find this diamond in the rough, found gold really, and don't want to pay him because they want to play a run of the mill role player who defends decently a much bigger contract. How often do teams pick up talents like Wood off the scrap heap?

Wood might not be the consummate leader but who gives a flying ****? The guy has huge talent and would have been a perfect fit with the playmaking guard you just drafted with your 1st pick. Like, come on man.

7r5ur · Post #129 » by **7r5ur** » Mon Dec 28, 2020 4:44 pm

NYPiston wrote:
DBC10 wrote:
bstein14 wrote:This is what ultimately does long lasting damage to organizations. Not getting anything for lost assets like these and or holding on to assets until they lose value

The Wood transaction is going to be noticeable for some time

Weaver seems to be bigger on character than talent.
It's just so frustrating that they find this diamond in the rough, found gold really, and don't want to pay him because they want to play a run of the mill role player who defends decently a much bigger contract. How often do teams pick up talents like Wood off the scrap heap?

Wood might not be the consummate leader but who gives a flying ****? The guy has huge talent and would have been a perfect fit with the playmaking guard you just drafted with your 1st pick. Like, come on man.

At worst a guy like him putting up big numbers like we knew he would for such a reasonable amount of money would have been a great trade chip. How many GM's do you think would offer up a quality 1st round pick for him on-the-spot today?

DBC10 · Post #130 » by **DBC10** » Mon Dec 28, 2020 6:06 pm

vege wrote:If someone didn't watch the game and want to have an idea how good Wood was

Watch on YouTube

Just about to post that. He really is the modern big man to a T.

Can dribble, shoot, and play big inside if he needs to on simple PnRs. We have to hope Sekou turns out like that by the time he's 25, if not this will be Middleton all over again

vic · Post #131 » by **vic** » Mon Dec 28, 2020 10:10 pm

DBC10 wrote:
vege wrote:If someone didn't watch the game and want to have an idea how good Wood was

Watch on YouTube

Just about to post that. He really is the modern big man to a T.

Can dribble, shoot, and play big inside if he needs to on simple PnRs. We have to hope Sekou turns out like that by the time he's 25, if not this will be Middleton all over again

It won't be Sekou that replaces Wood. Sekou has a 6'11 wingspan.

In order to replace Wood the Pistons will have to draft Evan Mobley 2021, Victor Wembayana (2022) Chet Holmgren (2022).

The failure of Weaver/Casey to recognize that to replace the talent level & size that Wood had will take a top 5 pick.

Or maybe that was their plan the whole time. Maybe this is a stealth tank job?

It's still dumb though.

MrBigShot · Post #132 » by **MrBigShot** » Tue Dec 29, 2020 2:11 am

If any pistons fan doesn't realize Weaver is clueless yet, you will eventually. I'd take Wood even as high as 20+ mil over Grant even if he was willing to sign for the vet minimum, much less for the 20 mil per year we signed him for.

buzzkilloton · Post #133 » by **buzzkilloton** » Tue Dec 29, 2020 2:25 am

MrBigShot wrote:If any pistons fan doesn't realize Weaver is clueless yet, you will eventually. I'd take Wood even as high as 20+ mil over Grant even if he was willing to sign for the vet minimum, much less for the 20 mil per year we signed him for.

I agree I'd rather have Wood at the same salary. Wood right now 12 pts first 7mins of the Rockets game. I mean everyone knew Wood was good. I guess his "character" kept him from getting paid. Big mistakes man.

MotownMadness · Post #134 » by **MotownMadness** » Tue Dec 29, 2020 2:27 am

I dont think he wanted to be on a rebuilding team over a playoff team but no way he passed up on a Grant type of deal.

vege · Post #135 » by **vege** » Tue Dec 29, 2020 3:12 am

20 points in the first half. Against another contender. Woodmight be an all star in the west if they don't trade Harden.

Piston Pete · Post #136 » by **Piston Pete** » Tue Dec 29, 2020 3:34 am

This thread makes me mad

Pharaoh · Post #137 » by **Pharaoh** » Tue Dec 29, 2020 12:28 pm

Don't let that thought get in the way of the narrative bro.

He absolutely wanted to be!

Our organisation is still clueless!

This FO & coaching staff are terrible!

We're doomed for all eternity!

MotownMadness wrote:I dont think he wanted to be on a rebuilding team over a playoff team but no way he passed up on a Grant type of deal.

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Canadafan · Post #138 » by **Canadafan** » Tue Dec 29, 2020 2:09 pm

Pharaoh wrote:Don't let that thought get in the way of the narrative bro.

He absolutely wanted to be!

Our organisation is still clueless!

This FO & coaching staff are terrible!

We're doomed for all eternity!
MotownMadness wrote:I dont think he wanted to be on a rebuilding team over a playoff team but no way he passed up on a Grant type of deal.

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Phobo_Phile · Post #139 » by **Phobo_Phile** » Fri Jan 1, 2021 11:08 pm

I know this is beating a dead horse territory at this point but I feel like I keep seeing Wood's box scores and highlights and it just hurts every time. Admittedly, he's still terrible on defense but Wood is basically discount Anthony Davis on offense and I mean that as a compliment. To know that we let him walk away only to pay the same to bolster our fundamentals department just hurts.

I think most of us had the original assessment that this was wrong move but kept making excuses that maybe our FO was playing 3D chess. All about helping Killian's development. But it's looking far more likely that Wood is going to fulfill his potential and become an all-star than Killian becomes a transcendent point guard because he's playing alongside Mason ****' Plumlee.

Pharaoh · Post #140 » by **Pharaoh** » Sat Jan 2, 2021 6:55 am

Why continue to check his stats unless you're a fan of the man himself?

Did he want to stay? Instagram says no, after the fact he says yes.

Did Weaver low ball him? Maybe!

Did we want him to stay? Maybe not

The only people who really know the truth aren't going to tell the world so I just move on.

The only dudes I keep track of once they leave are players who were here for years and achieved a lot (Billups, Hill, Ben etc)

Phobo_Phile wrote:I know this is beating a dead horse territory at this point but I feel like I keep seeing Wood's box scores and highlights and it just hurts every time. Admittedly, he's still terrible on defense but Wood is basically discount Anthony Davis on offense and I mean that as a compliment. To know that we let him walk away only to pay the same to bolster our fundamentals department just hurts.

I think most of us had the original assessment that this was wrong move but kept making excuses that maybe our FO was playing 3D chess. All about helping Killian's development. But it's looking far more likely that Wood is going to fulfill his potential and become an all-star than Killian becomes a transcendent point guard because he's playing alongside Mason ****' Plumlee.

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