Mavs Film Room: How Christian Wood Enhances Luka Doncic, Dallas' Offense
Christian Wood has gotten off to an impressive start to his Dallas Mavericks tenure. He's totaled 50 points and 20 rebounds in 49 minutes of action and is the first player in franchise history to score at least 25 points in each of their initial two games with the organization.
Wood has been one of the more utilized players offensively in the NBA to begin the season with a 35.3 percent usage rate. Among regular rotation players with multiple games played, he trails only Luka Doncic (38.2 percent), Joel Embiid (35.8 percent), and Ja Morant (35.8 percent) in usage rate. Whether he's playing next to Doncic or not, he's been an instrumental part of the offense.
When Wood is playing alongside Doncic, he is a helpful complement that gets enhanced playing off the superstar's playmaking. However, he is more than capable of attacking mismatches and creating his own shot without the help of others — making the Mavs' half-court offense all the more potent.
“I mean, it’s been great," Doncic said of having Wood as a teammate. "He’s an amazing player, he listens to us, he accepts his role. He’s just doing amazing stuff out there. It’s only been two games, but he’s going to be very good for us.”
The simplest method of attack for the Doncic-Wood tandem is to run a general pick-and-pop. A lot of defenses like to send multiple defenders at Doncic in ball screen coverage. Whether actually using the screen or rejecting it, Doncic can use the attention he commands to create quality catch-and-shoot attempts for Wood on the pop.
Doncic does an incredible job of manipulating the defense as a whole to create opportunities for the rim roller. Whether he's playing out of a regular high ball screen, or the Mavs are deploying a Spain pick-and-roll sequence, their superstar is going to create opportunities for the big.
A prime example occurred against the Grizzlies when the defense began switching everything as opposed to letting Doncic attack Steven Adams in ball screen coverage. Instead of needing to set the back screen in Spain pick-and-roll, Reggie Bullock cleared out to the wing — causing a breakdown for the defense. Doncic took advantage by getting the ball to Wood on the roll while the opposing big was neutralized out in space after the switch.
A common strategy teams will try against the Mavs is to switch their ball screen coverage and when the counter isn't to run Spain pick-and-roll, Dallas can attack the mismatch using traditional methods. What Doncic does to bigs out in space is already well established, but he hasn't had a pick-and-roll partner that can consistently bully switches — until now.
Wood has also shown to be a real threat as a floor spacer when playing next to Doncic. He can attack off the catch and protect the basketball against smaller defenders reaching after neutralizing the big using a fake on the closeout. When deploying Maxi Kleber at the five, he isn't nearly as dynamic in this regard.
When the defense decides to send a double-team at Doncic in ball screen coverage, sometimes they will pre-rotate the low-man to pressure the big on the short-roll. That can make a role player uncomfortable. Wood showed against the Suns that he can make the short-roll passing read by getting the ball to the open man as he did to connect with the weak-side shooter.
The Mavs like to use perimeter players as ball screening options for Doncic to force the defense into a tough situation. It's common for the defense to attempt a hedge-and-recover technique to avoid switching a mismatch onto Doncic. Such a situation presents a passing chance with the defense scrambling to recover. With Wood spacing on the weak-side, he is a great relief option on a 45-cut when his man commits to helping like Porzingis used to be.
Wood has an impressive ability to score out of isolation and his ability to do so takes pressure off Doncic from having to create everything when they share the floor. Against the Suns, Doncic was able to just stand on the wing as Wood receives the ball against a smaller defender. Wood attacked baseline and drew baseline help but stayed poised and executed the finish.
Wood is substantially more capable of running the floor than McGee has shown to be in the early portion of the season. The willingness and ability to run the floor hard when playing next to Doncic creates favorable scoring chances, like the lob pass Doncic threw him after going behind-the-back to counter a reach attempt from the on-ball defender. The defense had no choice but to help off Wood — resulting in the lob.
“(Doncic) actually knew exactly what he was going to do that whole entire play,” Wood said about what led to Doncic's transition lob against the Grizzlies. “He told me, ‘Just catch the lob, I’m just going to get to the paint and just stay and dunk it.’
“That’s one of his incredible plays that he makes. Being on the receiving end of that, it was fun.”
Sometimes, Doncic does things you see really only from him with his ability to create for teammates and Wood will be on the receiving end of it often. Not many playmakers can drag a play out long enough after drawing two defenders to create an advantage like Doncic can.
On the highlight play where Doncic brought a third defender into the play, there are some details to consider. Morant had been picked often throughout the game and was again here. Doncic used Morant to obstruct Adams from getting in his way on the pass to Wood in the paint by throwing the wraparound behind Morant. By Doncic making this play, it shows he trusts his weak-side floor spacing but also that he already believes Wood will execute when he makes risky passes.
The Mavs have often deployed a plug-and-play lineup when Doncic heads to the bench featuring Spencer Dinwiddie, Tim Hardaway Jr., and Wood as the clear focal points of the offense. Having that level of firepower going up against opposing team's plug-and-play units can be a major advantage.
It's not uncommon for NBA teams to be limited with what they can run offensively when their star isn't on the court. The average bench player isn't much of a shot creator or a motion shooting threat. The Mavs do not face this issue and have lots of options involving their focal points.
There will be plenty of half-court actions the Mavs can integrate into their half-court offense for their plug-and-play lineups as the season progresses. One they've already thrown out there is a Horns set with Wood and Hardaway with Dinwiddie initiating. Wood serves as a decoy as Hardaway ghost screens for Dinwiddie, leading to a spin into a spray-out pass to the weak-side corner after drawing the low-man, where Maxi Kleber is shot ready on the catch.
Few many big men are skilled enough to run an inverted pick-and-roll and have it result in a positive outcome. In his Mavs debut against the Suns, Wood made light work in the post after drawing the switch by attacking middle into a hook. Against the Grizzlies, Wood drew Tyus Jones on a switch and countered a reach attempt by shifting him with a between-the-legs dribble — leaving just the low-man between him and the rim. Wood used his size to overwhelm the low-man by finishing through and putting it back up.
The Mavs have rostered a few star big men with the ability to hit trailer 3s over the years. Dirk Nowitzki was absolutely lethal in knocking these shots down and was ahead of his time in that regard. Kristaps Porzingis was aggressive in taking and making them. Wood has that in his game, too.
The main concerns with Wood playing alongside Doncic has included a lack of free throw shooting consistency and caution about Wood's defensive contributions. So far, Wood has provided a real impact defensively and on the boards after working with the coaching staff.
“For him to be able to rebound for us and then also be able to switch on different assignments, he’s shown the growth on the defensive end,” Kidd said of Wood after the Mavs' win over the Grizzlies. “He’s working extremely hard on both offense, but also defense. He’s spending a lot of time with our coaches.”
In terms of free throw shooting, Wood finished just 3-10 (30.0 percent) on free throws against the Suns, but cleaned that up against the Grizzlies by going 12-14 (85.7 percent). It will remain a point of emphasis going forward given the importance of executing at the line to close games.
“It got better today,” Wood said. “Last game I said it was inexcusable, but I bounced back today. Sometimes you’ve got to give yourself a pat on the back.”
With the results from Wood already being so significant after just a few games, it's intriguing to consider what his pairing with Doncic could grow to become as they continue to integrate the skilled big man and deploy him for longer periods of time throughout games. They could form one of the more challenging NBA duos to guard come playoff time.
“I haven’t really experienced a playoff atmosphere, so today I liked it, I loved it,” Wood said. “I don’t know if you could tell, but I was having fun out there.”
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