It’s not exactly the NBA equivalent of a quarterback controversy.
In fact, based on the past few days, it’s more like a mutual-admiration society between JaVale McGee and Christian Wood, the two big men who are penciled in for a time-share at center this season.
Jason Kidd has made it clear that everything is fluid when it comes to playing time, starting, the rotation and just about everything else.
But fans are intrigued, it seems, by the decision (for now) to start McGee and bring Wood off the bench.
As a sixth man, Wood still could log more playing time than McGee. But that’s to be determined, Kidd said Saturday after a lively practice.
As for Wood, he’s figuring it out as he goes and seems to be just fine with the way things are going. After racking up 23 points in 19 minutes against Orlando on Friday, he sounded like somebody who is happy to be where he’s at.
“I’m just embracing it,” Wood said. “I could pout about it. I could do a whole bunch of different things and pout. But I’m just here to try to win games and that’s what I care about the most. So I’m just coming into the game and playing 110 percent.”
As for McGee, he’s been roughly a 15-minute player for the last several seasons. Often, he’s played behind centers who were going to start and play big minutes, such as Deandre Ayton last year in Phoenix.
But one of the reasons McGee is here is because of playing time, he said after Saturday’s workout. And he’s ready to take on more responsibilities if that’s what Kidd wants.
“Whatever you throw at me, I’m ready,” McGee said. “This is why I came here. I had plenty of opportunities to be a bench player, but he (Kidd) gave me an opportunity to be a starter. I take that whole-heartedly.
“It’s the same as before Jason Kidd came to the Lakers and I had to leave Golden State and went to the Lakers. I had my best season yet, as a starter. I take the starting role extremely seriously, to a whole other level that you’re held up to.”
Kidd said the roles will work themselves out over time. There is one preseason game left on Friday. But the true evaluation will begin when the regular season opens on Oct. 19.
“We’re deep at that position,” Kidd said. “I always ask the guys to play as hard as they can and when they get tired, they’ll have a sub. For me to put a cap on 15, 16 (minutes) that’s not fair to him and not fair to us because he could be going (great). We’ll see how it plays out.”
The meaning of ink: One of the most interesting tattoos in the NBA belongs to McGee. It’s a picture of Mr. Monopoly (Uncle Pennybags) passing the “GO” square on a Monopoly board.
As you probably suspected, there’s a story behind it. It starts with Monopoly being one of McGee’s favorite games ever since he was a kid.
“I always loved it, like serious – like I want to fight if you want to quit type of Monopoly player,” McGee said. “I always played it and I never realized Monopoly was trying to tell us how we’re supposed to live our life.
“We’re not supposed to be consumers. We’re supposed to go out, get some real estate and live our life like that. Don’t just keep passing go and getting a paycheck. So I took that to heart.
“And it was good art, too.”
Indeed it is. Unique, to say the least.
Long ball is alive and well: Through two preseason games, the Mavericks have launched 88 3-pointers.
Last season, they hurled 37.4 3-pointers per game.
That rose to 41.5 triples in the playoffs.
And Jason Kidd said the high number was by necessity. It gave the Mavericks their best chance to win.
He doesn’t expect this team to be as 3-point dependent, but so far, they have embraced the long ball, to say the least.
“We’re a little bit different,” Kidd said. “But if we’re going to shoot 50, let’s get to 50, not 47. We came up three short.”
After that laugh, Kidd continued, noting that Orlando on Friday had to go to their zone defense after the Mavericks rolled up a 33-15 lead in the first quarter.
“But if that’s the case, it’s going to be a lot of fun,” Kidd said. “If teams are going to zone us, we’re going to have to make them. It’s a great sign that we’re doing something right when a team goes zone because they couldn’t guard you and we saw that tonight.”
Briefly: Davis Bertans has been sitting out the last week with soreness in his right knee. “He’s doing better,” Kidd said. “Preseason, you don’t have to rush anybody back. He did some court work today and we’ll see how he is Monday. Just some soreness. There’s no reason to play hero now.” The Mavericks are taking a rest day on Sunday . . . Luka Dončić played almost 18 minutes on Friday, then went through all of practice on Saturday, Kidd said. “He was great at practice today,” he said. “He did an incredible job, especially this being the first time we played a game and then came and had a really good practice.” . . . McGee was asked if he’s getting more comfortable with the 3-point shot out of the corner. He’s only made 12 3-pointers in his 14 previous NBA seasons. “I’ve always been comfortable with the 3-ball,” he said. “But I’ve been elite at rolling, blocking and dunking, so they just kept me in that role.” Kidd said it would be OK – to a point – if McGee dabbles in the 3-point shot. “As you know, all bigs want to be able to show they can shoot,” he said. “And all smalls want to be in the post. JaVale does an incredible job of rolling, putting pressure on the rim, creating shots. I know he works on the corner three a lot. So there could be a chance to shoot a couple of those.”
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