Same! I think Gordon deserves to be traded to a contender, but trading Wood is just mitigation of self-inflicted damage. The guy came motivated, he wanted to win and build something. He's got talent. The losing culture got to him, though. His brain switched off. He is now playing in an F-U mode, like "I want to put up some numbers for my extension, obviously we're not winning anything here, this is a dumpster fire" . So ClutchFans now hates him and wants him traded for lower value. My question is: is that productive? Wood is not the cancer, losing is the cancer. I've seen it in this league million times. Players get disengaged, start playing selfishly, going through the motions. So what did we accomplish? We devalued a talented 26 yo player that we had on a great contract, only to up our lottery odds by a few percent. IS that good management. How are we going to attract free agents when the players that we have play like they don't want to be here? IF we had a competent coach and an organization committed to winning culture and accountability, players will buy-in. This is a disgrace right now.
"But but, all losing is the same, it doesn't matter if we play the right way or not, you're just not ready for the rebuild!!" - Tank Morons, 2021.
There is just so much nonsensical back-and-forth in these pages and pages on the topic. Bottom-line is this: this team has more talent than it's record and the quality of it's play. This is an absolute fact! Some people think it is OK to underperform your talent level. I and others think that it's rotten. Nobody is arguing that we have a championship roster. Nobody is arguing to never-ever draft another player. Pro-tankers think it's OK to play like shet and bellow your abilities in order to improve your lotto odds by a few %age points. Anti-tankers think that you need to work and out-work your talent and if you end-up drafting #5 or #7 or #10 or whatever, so be it. Don't denigrate the game of basketball for the lotto odds.
they have really cleaned up their shot selection and it's showing. Neither really takes dumb shots unless it's a end of shot clock desperate attempt. They both drive a ton and try to get to the line, and try to hit open 3's.
Sengun and JC have outperformed their draft positions while Green has had a much rougher time at it. However, I think we have enough evidence at this point to see that there isn't an extra gear for this team. It's more a structural issue where we don't have a competent primary creator, maybe that's Sengun sooner than later but it's a lot to ask for in a rookie season. We don't have much experience on the defense end or enough to create some semblance of team defense. I think we were hoping KPJ and Wood take a step forward, but that hasn't been the case. I went into this season thinking this was going to be the rock bottom rebuild season, last year was just shuffling chairs on a sinking ship but now we are at the bottom of the sea. I guess I view trading away vets for future assets (not related to winning) as the same thing as "tanking" since it is antithetical to "win now".
Right... that's the issue with KPJ being a first year PG or Wood taking a role as the primary scorer.....
I used to think the same about Wood. But after the recent antic, I have realized that he is a weak minded guy. I agree that losing causes players to be unmotivated. (This is the so-called "winning mindset" being distorted by those who want to dismiss it entirely.) And if you sense that you are not in the future of the team, it further lowers your motivation to do what's best for the team. BUT I also believe that losing gets to the weak minded/selfish players much easier than the strong minded. Compare the attitudes of Wood and Gordon. EG has all the excuses for being disengaged--not having fun. He's playing for one of the worst teams in the league and he knows that he is not going to be here when the team is good again. And this is not a contract year for him. But he keeps his professionalism and still plays at a high level. Wood will be a valuable role player for many teams. So don't throw him away just for the sake of it. But I no longer want him to be part of our future core.
As of now EG is easily our most tradable asset as he fits really well with any team in win now mode. EG has a lot of experience contributing to winning teams and the contenders know this. Wood even with his talent I'm not sure how valuable he is to a current contender as he knows how to put up pts and rebounds but his offensive and defensive awareness is sorely lacking.
Worst defender in the NBA according to some here. Oh and yeah, I get how bad he is on team/help defense this early in his career
People like to point to his help defense because it's impossible for him to get better at it even with more experience and a better understanding of the scheme. He is a lost cause. There is literally no conceivable avenue to where he will actually even get marginally better at it.
Yeah! Who ever heard of a 19 year old improving? Bust is the only answer here. (I see your /s with my /s)
I’m with Clutch on this. Or I guess we can just keep parking our most explosive scorer in the corner possession after possession collecting dust. It’s whatever.
Let's be realistic, our paint defense needs the most work. I've seen so many times we had to help inside which the other team made us pay for it by hitting the outside shot.
I just wanted to let u guys know that cade is still playing and they are down 40. But jalen can't get garbage burn???
