I'm just asking here if we know for a fact he's out of shape. Some of his forays trying to score were slowed down by good D on him and probably also trying to get his timing back. BUT I "too" was surprised to see him looking "bigger" up top than he has, and I thought maybe he had been hitting the weights hard to be able to try to handle the back up or side by side duties to/with AD better going forward. Are we absolutely sure some of that or more isn't added muscle weight in that kind of attempt .... just asking? Because I too find it hard to believe with all that's at stake for him he would come in with that being FAT type weight?
Guess it could be, but I don't see enough muscle change that would warrant that kind of slow down. It's not like when AD decided to bulk up and we all knew that wasn't the best idea for his injury risks. Some guys just really struggle getting game ready because there's no substitute for real minutes on a NBA court. Not off-season conditioning, summer runs vs colleagues, or training camp. But I was negatively surprised considering the stakes. Maybe this should've been a non guaranteed deal to further motivate him. What's alarming is he said this was the most motivated he's been since his first year in the league. Just one game, so there's some level of overreaction, sure, but not a great first impression. Buha mentioned it too in his game recap
I agree that Wood showed up out of shape and that's def a concern. He seems like a lot more talk than actual backing it up...he needs to get into game shape quickly if he expects to play a major role on this team. The guy ddint' have an NBA contract the entire summer and he showed up out of shape - that's a concern Good thing is? We can weather the storm with or without him when roster is fully healthy
My man finally got untracked in the 3rd: Nice thing about Wood is he has a variety of ways to score and go inside/outside depending on the mathcup
Looked better against the 3rd stringers.. Was moving more fluid. He just needs his jump shot to get on track
I’m not convinced at all some of that added mass is not muscle. We saw the footage of him in the weight room same as the other guys. That play in the third where he ripped the ball through two defenders all over him to score after grabbing the offensive rebound I wasn’t paying attention until he was battling, and he was so fierce and physical in that moment my first impression was it was Rui. Anyway he’s thicker than I thought and not really a twig. And hell yeah is a versatile offensive weapon at the least. I think he’ll be fine with our coaching staff on D if he’s just not overmatched.
He absolutely looks like a veteran’s minimum player. He is skilled in some areas, flawed in others. I think he’s going to need time to find his spots, see where he fits alongside AD/Lebron, have the team learn when they should give him the ball on the perimeter (they may not necessarily be used to playing with another big that can space the floor). Don’t necessarily agree with the motions that he’s out of shape or that there have been any notable red flags from the first few preseason games
Didn't look as clunky out there. Why is the 3rd Q the quarter he tries to get going? 3rd Q Wood is much more aggressive. I'd like to see him do that against better competition. He really got cooking when Brooklyn went to the end of the bench players.
Definitely looked better than the first game but like others mentioned, he was out there with end kf bench guys. Hes gotta find his 3 point shoot and other ways to contribute… if its just scoring, he’s not playing much when the team is fully healthy.
it's going to take longer for Wood to get his bearing with the team and vice versa than Hayes. But you can see when Wood gets going he gives the Lakers haven't had outside of AD even with Dwight and McGee. He can run the floor well just like those guys but you can legit throw the ball into him and have beat small guys. It's not like Porzigingis with Dalls. On offense, Hayes is more of a plug and play guy but with Wood because he gives you more options it's going to take a bit of time to figure out where to put him on the floor with AD for example - try him in the dunker or move him into the corner or maybe even have AD in the dunker with Wood screening.
Starting to look like he's meshing now. Team needs to find him when he's open on the perimeter now - no reason from not to get any 3's up in a game with this team
