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Recently Released Scott Wood Could Play Major Role in NBA D-League

Despite being recently released by the Golden State Warriors, 6’7 sharp-shooter Scott Wood could still stand as a major player player in the NBA D-League.

By Dakota Schmidt
Carlos Avila Gonzalez

On Sunday afternoon, the Golden State Warriors announced that they waived forwards Elgin Cook and Scott Wood from their preseason roster. For Golden State, this move trims their pre-season roster down to 18 players. At this point, there remains four training-camp invitees vying to remain on the Warriors’ 15-man roster: JaVale McGee, Phil Pressey, Cameron Jones and Elliot Williams.

Despite their release from the Warriors roster, both Cook and Wood should remain very optimistic about their basketball future. Both Wood and Cook received partially-guaranteed deals before heading into training camp in mid-September. Those deals mean that Golden State will have an opportunity to send both players to their NBADL affiliate, the Santa Cruz Warriors.

Although both players should definitely have success with the Santa Cruz Warriors, Wood might be the best opportunity to shine in the NBA D-League. That optimism surrounding Wood is due to two separate reasons:

  1. His experience playing in one of the elite international leagues
  2. Superb efficiency from behind the three-point line

In regards to that top factor, Wood spent the last three seasons playing with UCAM Murica of the Spanish ACB Liga. During that time, Wood played a significant role as the team’s major perimeter weapon from off the bench. Playing 21.2 minutes per game, Wood averaged 9.1 points on 41% from the field and 40% from beyond the arc. That 3-point percentage actually stands as the 10th most efficient average in ACB Liga history.

Even before his career with UCAM Murica, Wood had already established himself to be an elite perimeter weapon. That label first started during his time with NC State, where he averaged 10.6 points on 42% from the field and 41% from beyond the arc. When you look at perimeter efficiency, Wood’s best season was a senior, where he shot an incredible 44% from beyond the arc.

Similar to his stint in Spain, Wood’s incredible perimeter shooting will forever stand in the ACC record books. First off, Wood made 334 total perimeter jumpers during his NC State stint, which is the fourth highest number in ACC history. Alongside that, his 41% three-point percentage stands as the 6th most efficient average in the history of that conference.

If you’re good at being able to sense patterns, you’d be able to easily understand that Wood is an incredible perimeter shooter no matter who he plays with. Whether he played with UCAM Murica or NC State, Wood hasn’t had a season where he’s shot worse than 39% percent from beyond the arc. In a league like the NBADL which has dominated by perimeter-oriented wings, the 6’7 Wood could stand as one of those elite players.

Although a more diverse offensive arsenal separates Wood from making that ultimate transition to the NBA, he should still have plenty of success in the D-League. As we’ve seen countless amount of times, elite perimeter shooters are the ones that usually stand among the top offensive players in the entire NBA D-League. While we still have a whole season ahead of us, there’s a good chance that would one of those players will be Scott Wood.