Nonsense. Much about nothing. The guy always had talent and showed flashes with pelicans but didn’t come into his own until last year and especially end of season with Detroit. Weak on defense and a question mark that Detroit and other teams were not going to commit to. He really needs to beef up and be more aware on defense. Misses so many assignments and terrible man defender.
Wood had Caboclo-itis...from what I understand he'd show flashes but always seemed lost and avoided contact thats why he bounced around. He had a good end to the season in NO and but that too little too late and then got signed to Detroit. The coach there gave him tough love and would bench him if he played soft or was inconsistent. He responded but there might be bad blood and trust issues because of that. Listening to some Detroit fans Detroit wanted him back but it was Wood who didnt want to return (something Feigen alluded to when he said Wood had more lucrative offers elsewhere). I dunno what these red flags are I havent seen any. He is out performing his contract by so much it looks like a joke. A red flag is a warning sign, whatever detriments Wood may have shown is so outweighed by his offensive production it doesnt matter. Like, yeah he is gonna be too thin to br more than discount AD. So what? Discount AD for 12M is a bargain.
People complain about Woods defense , when the problem is Harden Tucker and House get blown by ... samething was happening with RoCo .. and Wood is really a PF not a C
Dwane Casey in Detroit is a defense oriented coach. He probably wanted to feature in a fast paced, 3 shooting Offense.
He averaged really good nos in Casey's offense so it wasnt just that. Like I said maybe the tough love rubbed him the wrong way. Its not like Detroit had something to play for maybe getting yanked in and out of the lineup based on his play really grated on him. Regardless I'm very haooy with he is like one of the few brifht spots this season.
I think he guards the perimeter better than capela when we shipped him off. He can’t box out and band with the big boys but he can out run them in transition. What do you expect? Can’t have both. What makes him great on offense will also be a weakness down low. But for the price he’s still a bargain. He guards the perimeter better than big centers who can defend down low. It’s a trade off.
The Ringer article on Wood when he signed. Seems like a combo of immaturity and lack of self-awareness. All that failure early in his career created a large chip on his shoulder. My read is that he's a super talented guy that's gonna need a lot of coaching and mentorship to be the kind of player he thinks he can be. Even then, it's gonna take even longer (if ever) to become a championship level player who cares more about the team success than individual accolades. Lower risk, upside guy. That chip on his shoulder's gonna keep him improving; the question is how fast?
His focus was on offensive development and now has good shoot form and is gifted around the basket. He drove coaches nuts defensively. We have mentors in Tucker and Boogie that can help. I haven’t seen Hakeem though. Hope he is still on the sidelines this year and can take him like he did Capela. He needs to get stronger for sure. He wanted to be a starter and Detroit as well as many other teams could not offer that. You can’t be a star player sitting on a teams bench.
Meh, he's a young player who has improved and grew over the years and will continue to improve. This is his first year starting and looks to be a breakout year with all star potential. No player will be perfect as they grow into thier role, even Harden had to grow when we got him. Here is an example, a young Anthony Davis had a few similar "red flags" about him early in his career coming out: 2012 NBA Draft Breaking Down the Pros and Cons of Anthony Davis' Game Con: Lack of Strength One aspect that certainly isn't a strength for Davis is his strength. Davis weighs only 222 pounds, which isn't that much for his 6'10.5" body and his 7'5" wingspan. He could stand to pack much more muscle on his frame, especially because he has such an expansive wingspan. Indeed, he grew eight inches in just the past couple years. Putting on muscles takes time, and it's difficult for a player to fill out his frame right after he sprouted up. The 19-year-old power forward will need to become stronger sooner or later. Without a solid build, Davis will have trouble standing his ground in the post on either end of the floor. His strong rebounding ability might not translate if he doesn't build muscle. Also, he'll struggle to score if he doesn't bulk up. He has time to develop since he's such a young player. If he does what he needs to do in the weight room, he'll be physically equipped to battle in the post. Con: Not Much of a Post Player Anthony Davis may be spectacular doing some things on the inside, like dunking and swiping offensive boards, but his overall post game isn't something to get excited about. He never developed an ability to gain leverage on interior defenders or position himself in the post. He doesn't have a back-to-the-basket game. Mostly, Davis' inside game revolves around catching the ball and dropping it in or dunking. Blake Griffin has made it with that sort of style, but not many other power forwards manage to do that, especially those with Davis' size. https://bleacherreport.com/articles/1238677-breaking-down-the-pros-and-cons-of-anthony-davis-game
Boogie should start and Wood should primarily be a 4. That will help with a lot of his defensive issues.
The only potential red flag I see is that he's a black hole and will focus on getting his. That's not necessarily a bad thing if you have one or two guys on the team like that and as long as those guys aren't trash. Beasley comes to mind and he saved our season like 4 or 5 years ago. We were missing that presence.
Just about being immature but he's also grinded from the bottom and wants to be a star so he should be fine going forward. It's also great despite James acting up, he still has guys like Wall and Boogie who have been through a lot of the same issues and have seemed to outgrow them
