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Yeah he may be out.
The 76ers rescinded his rights prior to summer league. They should resign him, but their logjam is tight. Spurs should pounce. I'd guess Wood's agent is looking for a guaranteed multi-year deal, which is not what I'm advocating. I'm advocating a generous deal that isn't fully guaranteed, but enough to get Wood into Spurs camp.
Yeah he may be out.
Damn, Chinook just destroying El Nono with facts about KA.
The Bracket:
Got a tough bracket. Hopefully bertans and Milutinov play. If not why are there even there.
Why not give him 2 years guaranteed and 1 as a team option? This kid out played KA in their head to head matchup. He's a better shooter and has more length and size. He also is more athletic. I'm not saying get rid of KA but if he is guaranteed then why not give Wood something. Plus Wood is only 20 years old.
A trio of Aldridge, Anderson, and wood makes a nice PF rotation. And Wood can play some 5.
Quoting you bc in all this very interesting debate with ElNono, what you posted here is significant. There is a vacuum created by the departure of Diaw and West (even in their reduced production). They were asked to play in the paint, even though DWest specially liked to PnP and not to roll, Pop asked him to finish inside often. He couldn't against legit centers and that was a problem. Diaw is terrific in the post but he's good on mismatches, not against legit bigs, and his effort waxes and wanes. I don't know what happened to Diaw, he didn't show up. Neither Mills nor Manu could make a difference either as they are essentially jumpshooters and Anderson was parked in a corner observing all this unable to help. In the future, he won't be parked in a corner observing Pop's theatre of the insane occur for 6 straight times. ElNono wanting to park Kyle in the corner is a recipe for disaster against the good teams. Could Anderson have helped in the playoffs if Pop went to him? He scored on Roberson in the last game and I doubt Waiters could have guarded him if he was determined bc he has a lot of size on Waiters. But we won't know bc Pop didn't go to him. He went with his trusted vets 6 straight times and that was that. The end.
Anyways, Pop will have to make adjustments with Dedmon now, but he needs to be set up. Anderson and Simmons will probably be asked to get in the paint more to fill in that vacuum bc Manu and Mills do not get in the paint. They score on cuts, but when defenses tighten up and the game slows down, or against good defensive teams, cuts aren't there as defenders pay a lot more attention. In one statement Simmons stated as much, that both him and Kyle wanted to get inside, and from what I saw in SL, Anderson sought to drive often from the high post, or posted up to get in the paint. He cut the midrange in favor of PnP3, or spotted up and shot the 3, the rest were post ups or drives inside and not necessarily for himself. Occasionally he took a midrange jumper, which is fine to keep defenses honest, but he wanted to get inside. He also dished to Kirk several times when he drew help. Kirk just wasn't ready to catch passes to begin with and when he did, he couldn't finish in the paint at all, so it didn't look good, but with a better big, those drives would end up in a dish to a big who can finish. And when Kyle played with LMA, he dished to LMA very often (and to Boban), it's not like we haven't seen Anderson do that before in the big leagues, or that it is not a replicable skill. And Simmons' game has always been to get in the paint anyways for himself or drawing fouls and that's also something he did in the NBA, what he needed was practice in his dribble and making reads, knowing when to dish if he drew help and when to go for his own. Things of that nature (and to work on his own defensively, but that's a different subject area).
I am sure Pop will integrate all these things out into a system, but it probably will be less of a Manu centric system, just bc it can't be. The burden to create, to get inside will probably be spread out, but will include more Anderson and Simmons initiating things at times, not exclusively parked in corners, and the guy finding Manu and Mills on cuts is probably going to be Anderson a good amount.
Palangi, I don't know what would give them pause. But the 76ers did rescind him for a reason. I suspect too many fc players on roster. The 76ers' SL invitation to Wood leads me to believe they are open to bringing him back so long as they alleviate their logjam. But the SL invitation would likely confirm there are no character issues. Maybe the Spurs just don't think as much of him as they do their own prospects. But if I were RC, I'd probably take a flier on 2 years guaranteed with a team option. Seems fair.
Spurs have some roster flexibility in FC. I think they're only signing one more big, and they'd probably prefer that were a vet, even though it looks to me that they will be forced to sign a younger prospect. But it's possible they sign two more bigs. In either case, Wood looks as good as anything available and better than their Spurs SL big man prospects. We agree on this point.
Spurs may want to leave final FC position open until training camp too.
I have liked Woods too, but don't know much about him and his character issues after going undrafted. He apparently had laziness no work ethic, and Spurs don't like those kinds of guys, specially if they are young. But having to claw his way back into the NBA has maybe instilled some desire to improve himself. He does look good out there. Like you, I tend to think Pop wants a veteran.
I'd give Wood guaranteed money to come on over. The Spurs aren't using it anyway.
I don't know if we have the money for a veteran though.
SAGirl, "theater of the insane" -
Frankly, I would not mind seeing Pop make good on his promise to go out with Tim. We have a bunch of alums who have acquired sufficient experience to come back and effectively replace Pop at this point. I don't believe Becky has acquired the experience just yet.
I don't put a lot of stock into concerns about Wood's character. He was young when he slid in draft and seems to have improved a lot from 14 months ago. No known issues since then. But mostly, the available market of bigs is thin.
Beyond this, I subscribe to the thesis that Spurs will play smaller this season, with an open offensive system (higher volume of 3FGAs; Anderson, Leonard, Bertans at 4; Chinook's prediction of more 3/4 and 2/4 PnP, etc...). This suits Wood.
Dedmon should be a good diver in such a system too.
Kyle Anderson's candidacy for MIP and Kawhi Leonard for MVP in such a system seem like good bets to me. So much rides on Kyle's ability to consistently knock down three pointers. Let's hope Spurs get that sorted by opening night.
i fully expect KA to be a candidate for most improved player of the year award this season.
Wood checks a couple of boxes for me, namely that he's able to play both big positions and is young and under the radar. With Gasol and Dedmon possibly free agents after this season, getting someone locked into a long-term deal makes a ton of sense. Wood had lottery upside this time 15 months ago. It would be nice to not have to go into next summer with three rotation spots to fill.
Unfortunately, I think he's priced himself out of the team's range.
He's a fit next to all four of the Spurs' best players. Dude should definitely be the sixth man, though he still has to earn it.
I suspect that the Spurs will wait to see what players get cast off in training camp before making another move. Wood seems like a better option to me. But what is our cap situation right now? I guess Tim's contract is stretched. I guess we are obliged to sign LJC. Perhaps Bertans. I have no idea where we are, but I would love to see somebody who has a good grasp of such matters bring us all up to date on our cap status.
The cap hasn't changed a whole lot since I posted my projections a week or so ago in the off-season thread. The main difference is that Manu's hold was bigger than I expected. I don't believe the team will have cap space beyond the guys we already know are committed. I am currently expecting Bertans to get whatever is left (somewhere between $1.4 Million and $2 Million). But between that and Gasol, the Spurs might be able to squeek out a million or so. And if Tim took less on a buyout, it will be even more. It might be enough to secure a guy like Wood, but likely it might help more to secure a guy like Forbes or Hanlan to a long-term deal.
Personally, I am not as upset at Tony and his contract as I am with Manu and his new one. TP was under contract. However, it seems that Manu kind of forced his way back. I wish he had just retired and left us with his cap space and roster spot to invest on more youth. Oh well, it is what it is...
While the argument can be made for a younger guard over Manu (though to a strong one, since Manu retiring would only free up $5.5 Million in space), there's no argument I can think of for choosing Wood over him.
I was thinking more like Wood and Forbes. Imho, we still need another decent big. Seems like we are placing a LOT of faith in Dedmon, who is pretty unproven and known to be foul-prone. I don't really want an old geezer like Scola, but I do like the idea of putting my eggs in two baskets - even if basket #2 is pretty similar to Dedmon. Stokes does not fill the bill for me. As much as I like rooting for him, he is a tweener that I don't want - unless Chip can get him up to 35% or so on 3s, which we wouldn't know until after the fact.
Wanted Wood from the beginning of Utah SL. He'd give the third big with offense and could be paired with Dedmon at times.
76'ers have too many FC players so its not a surprise that they waived Wood. Wood looks like he has the length and talent, but just like Murray, he's another project.
I like Forbes because he seems to need to play within a more structured offense to do well. Further, its always good to have an additional 3 point threat.
Spurs biggest hole however is at the PF spot. After seeing LJC, it is obvious that he's too raw and will need a lot of time in Austin.
Maybe Spurs need to take a look at Hanga, he's got good size and can handle the ball well.
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