True he can't guard most 5's, but also no one on our team can and they all get burned. Our team defense is also horrendous and you can't effectively blame that on Wood alone no matter how much you hate him. Wood has consistently not only taken smaller players on the perimeter on offense, but abused them in the post when they try to guard him. This idea that he's too slow to be a threat offensively against smaller players is made up and not reality of the games I have watched.
you sure do place a lot of blame on everything outside of wood. And no it's not everyone else fault for everything The latter part of your post is also false and a ridiculous claim
agreed. And I think your assessment of Wood is fair. It’s also clear our roster is unbalanced and that Silas has been hostile to playing Wood at the 4, which many of us have said since he signed, is his natural position. But I don’t think we can just gloss over his poor defense generally. It’s not just that he can’t set a screen to save his life (and btw, if he hasn’t learned how by now that’s scary), but he also misses assignments and he won’t body up on anyone. I do see him loaf at times and act like a diva, and I still want to know what mysteriously happened to him for those games he was out after that great Memphis game. I agree it takes bigs longer to develop and maybe he is still developing, but the lack of defense and those other issues are big issues for me. I don’t think you give him away, but I do think you move him. Sengun is 8 yrs younger. He’s the guy that has the brighter future. He’s the guy a rebuilding team should prioritize.
Your third best option on a contending team is a building block, not just a good role player. I never said he was or should be our franchise player. But you don't build a championship contender without great building blocks. Role players on contenders are your 4th or 5th starters, or your bench players. Most teams need at least 3 building blocks to contend, unless you have two Superstars, not Allstars. Hakeem or a clone of him isn't walking through the door anytime soon!
Who said wood can be the 3rd best option on a contending team? that's nothing but an assumption based on putting up empty stats on the worst teams. that in no way is valid
lol mean I actually thought that was a good post , just disagree . no one on the team is where they need to be to be “good” players . but green and sengun are rookies , tates only 2nd year , even kpj is a 3rd year guy. wood has been in the league for 6 . I think that 86 is right that he’s a 3 ... maybe a 4 . how’s his offense for a 3 . Is he just a spot up shooter ? How fast can he play ? Can he get by smaller - quick guys if he’s actually playing 3 ... defense is a team thing . This is where his experience hurts him most imo . I don’t think he will get much better . Guys can learn to shoot over time . When’s the last time anyone became a good defender in year 7 ... when they hadn’t shown much before . his lack of effort really stands out . I don’t think he has it in him to keep it up for 5 min , much less each quarter . he’s got skills on offense no doubt . If you can find a team where he can be placed in good positions and his defense is hidden then he can be ok ... but I’m ready to move on . green , Tate , kpj even ... I feel like everyone on our roster (expect maybe DJ Augustin ) has shown more fight over the course of the year . has he gone to the floor for a loose ball all year ? Taken a charge ? it for sure hasn’t clicked with him yet .... And I guess you get excited because the potential is high ... but I’d rather move on . Especially if it costs us any more and he takes minutes away from other guys . edit. @FANfrom86toNow I address some things in this post . Thanks for the response . I have not seen the good perimeter offense. I’ll say one more thing (building block related) ... it’s clear the playoffs are a different game , both in scheme and in how the players play . In the regular season 100 percent effort is an option , most pace themselves . This is not the case in the playoffs . I’m not sure how to describe it . But there’s a difference when guys are engaged or not . And you can see it in spurts in the regular season . We’ve all heard the phrase a team or a guy has “pop” to me wood doesn’t have much in the “pop” meter. And I repeat he’s been in the league for 6 years . One other way to put it is .. how effective are you when you are playing 100 percent ? Or to maximum ability . That means max lock in / concentration. I’ve seen more in the way of this from green , Tate , Sengun , kpj , Gordon still , and flashed from JC. it’s more than a player getting hot from 3 . I mean having a stretch where you are making all the right decisions , playing with pace , and wreaking havoc on defense . I think wood is just a guy
Which latter part. It's a long post so I can't assume to know what you are talking about. And I don't blame anyone for Wood's shortcomings. I blame other people for the teams shortcomings. I could have easily said we don't have a PG to bring out his talent, but I left that alone on purpose.
all of the latter part. And yes you're blaming everyone outside of wood in your posts. That's been the common theme in all of them because you're clearly trying to defend him If he was that talented, he wouldn't need a pg to bring that out. That's already a flag right there so there's no reason to address that anyway.
Therein lies the issue: the team right now is not a contending team so why pay/retain a 27 year old big that can't set picks properly or play defense down low X amount of money to stay on this team?
I agree with a lot of this, but while I don't know, it seems the illness was also going around the team. So not sure if that is something to focus on or not. While everyone points out the faults in his defense, what great defensive players do we have on this team to help him? Defense is more about team than offense is by a mile. Great offense always beats great defense. Tate may be our best defender and he is undersized at best. Matthews is our best charge taker, but he consistently gambles and misses assignments as well. As great as Harden was, he only locked in on defense when the team was doing well and he had other great defensive players around him. Remember all the videos about how bad Harden sucked at defense based on a few clips of him taking plays off? While the videos were true, they didn't represent what a locked in Harden could do back then defensively when other good defensive players were on his team. Wood is no Harden, but the talent is there to play very good team defensive on the perimeter, rebounding and shot blocking. Just don't ask him to guard the 5's of this league!
Big men take longer as we all know. What will he be like in 2 to 4 years when he is 30 and Green and the rest of our players are developed and ready to contend? How old was Hakeem when he finally lead us to the promise land? No Wood would not lead us, but saying at 30 that he would be too old to be our 3rd or 4th best player on a contender is just short sighted to me. If we had Embiid then I wouldn't want to see him diving for loose balls unless it was the playoffs! The regular season is the regular season, and we aren't in contention even for a playin. So yes, I have no problem with a thin injury prone 7 footer like Wood that is valuable in other ways, not diving for loose balls on the worst team in the league. He can save that for when it matters.
Again you're blaming everything else outside of wood. that's pretty much all i need to say. the reality is he isn't as good as you're making him out to be
Because per the CBA you have to pay out a certain amount of money and have a minimum amount of players on a team. And you won't get anyone better than him for the amount of money he is making right now, draft picks won't do it. And as I already said, in 3 or 4 years, he is 30 or 31 and could be a very good 3rd or 4th option on a contending team if he continues to develop as most big men do at around 30. Those saying he is a finished product and can't grow with our youngsters, are ignoring the history of big men in this league.
All fair. If we had +defensive players at every other spot in the rotation, Wood certainly wouldn’t be as much of a liability. I agree team defense is important. But it wouldn’t change the reflexively negative reaction I have watching him sometimes not even try to play defense, let alone the blown picks and missed assignments. Perhaps I’m over magnifying it because I find it so gaulling. But I think we can both agree we are a long way from being a good defensive team, so locking us into another bad defensive player through an extension will make it that much harder to turn around.
If you consider my last post that quoted you as blaming someone for Wood, then therein lies the real problem. You don't have to or need to reply if you aren't having a discussion and just saying whatever. I laid out my reasons for my points of view that can clearly be debated for anyone that wants to engage in discussion. I'm not interested in just "I'm mad" arguments.
While I agree with most of your post, he is still statistically a very above average and good rebounder, which is a huge part of defense. And he is a decent shot blocker, another huge part of defense. While I can agree that he definitely can not guard 5s in this league, and definitely takes plays off or doesn't try as hard as he could always, I don't think those are fatal flaws. They just seem that way on this team as constructed and coached. He is also a very good and above average perimeter defender for a 7 footer. The picks issue is more of an offensive thing, which I also think a good coach can correct. I have listened to him talk, and I think he has the intelligence to not have so many missed assignments on defensive in a good system, with a defensive leader on the floor. Most great defensive teams are because of the system 1, and a great communicator on the floor to speak out loud in live action to the other players to direct them. We have neither, so every one of our players seems horrible at defense, as our team rating indicates.
The real problem is that you're not actually acknowledging Wood himself and all his flaws and who he actually is as a player. It's post after post of its so and so faults he's not this way. Constant excuse after excuse. That's not how it works
bro he can’t be a thin injury prone 7 footer and an effective 6’10” quick perimeter player. Hakeem is an obvious troll attempt . Hakeem was leading a team to the WCF his second year in the league . None of what wood supposedly does shows up in the W column . You are arguing he’s a complete support player . We can get someone far better when the time comes
