I hate to say this because I hate Jason women beater Kidd, but he's been a really effective coach for the Mavs and this might be a good situation for Wood (though I agree with all the critiques of his empty calories/stats play), especially given that it's a contract year.
Given that its a contract year for Wood, I don't hate the trade. But I do what to push to back against the idea that Dallas gave up nothing. This a is relatively week draft at the top, but the back half is comparable with other years. Dallas is already an expensive team and by all reports is going to try to keep Brunson. Roster construction and cap management benefit from having a few guys on rookie scale deals who can play meaningful minutes. Granite and Pritchard were both picked in the 20's. The Warriors feature Poole, Looney and Green all of whom were picked after 26 (obviously the latter two are now well past their rookie deals). With Brunson about to get paid and Luka's supermax kicking in, the Mavs don't have anyone on their rookie deal who is a real contributor (unless you are really optimistic about Josh Green).
Seeing how Wiggins played when freed from the disaster that has been Minnesota for their last 15 years should embolden teams to take chances on talent. Maybe it doesn't work, but this was an absolute no brainer for them.
A pick that late can absolutely yield a good player but it typically does not. That said, Dallas needs improvement and as you note, their roster is already expensive. Absent swings like this - and it could easily be more Whiteside than Wiggins - its not clear what else the Mavs can do. I think its a good move given their needs and constraints.
It's unexpected obviously but not totally surprised. It could that he wants to continue chasing rings as an assistant for a team with superstars known for coachability. Charlotte could become competitive with LaMelo, but are far from contenders.
I’m getting Jon Lester vibes here. The Hornets offered a 4/$60m extension which isn’t in the same stratosphere of the max offer that Bridges will receive should teams feel that Charlotte won’t match. Hard to believe in this day and age that two sides can be so far apart on a players value without there being other factors (injuries, age, etc). This seems like an easy player to recognize what his market value is.
Utah and Hayward the first time around.
Sorry if it couldn’t be viewed. Someone Tweeted a side by side pick of a leaner than ever Caleb Swanigan as a rookie next to one of him a year later wearing a mask and a polo shirt that makes him resemble a 350-lb out of shape offensive lineman. It was followed by a response from former teammate Dame Lillard criticizing the post and asking people to be supportive of a guy going down a dark road.
I saw that he got very large. I bolded your “sad post basketball journey” text. Between your comment and Lillard’s, I was wondering what it was. Maybe I was reading too much between the lines and you don’t know what triggered it, if anything.
There are a bunch of links to stories if you follow this thread:
Thank you. Sorry, since I could read Lillard’s tweet in SoSH, I didn’t know there was more to follow.
FWIW, the Knicks tried to do exactly that (i.e., use him as a bench scorer) the latter part of the season, and Walker still couldn't get on the court.
Stuff I found……
A friend asked me today how many calories I "save" by not putting cheese on a foot long sub. I don't like cheese so it's not an issue for me. But, I said 200 calories. She was like, "oh, that's nothing."
Just a really sad story overall and kudos to Dame for stepping up and tweeting that. That’s something not a lot of people at his level of stardom would do for an ex-teammate.
