He chose to leave school too early!
When he chose to enter the draft after two seasons at UNLV, he was a skinny 20-year-old with a shooting touch but an inconsistent shot. His three-point shooting performance in college was not eye-catching (2.2 attempts, 26.11 TP3T shooting percentage), and he was not strong enough to cope with the next level. His talent has allowed him to squeeze into the lineup several times, but he has always been just a player who is useful in theory but not helpful in practice.
This is a classic problem encountered by tall players with long arms in their early 20s. They need time to become more competitive. This is the case if you look at the growth process of Brandon Ingram and Giannis Antetokounmpo, but the difference is that compared to the first two, Wood is an undrafted rookie with no guaranteed contract, and no team is willing to wait patiently for his physical growth.
The increased confrontation will be a multiplier benefit for Wood's career. With his touch and height, he can score just by moving to the right spot. Now that defenders can no longer stop him in his path, he can score after a confrontation.
Another important change is Wood learning how to finish offense in a more limited role. For a player of his size who can dribble, he can attack almost solely by relying on his body during his schooling period, and at the same time, he does not need to put in much study and effort on the defensive end. But the physical advantage shrinks in the NBA, and coaches won't let a substitute player who messes up the defensive plan and always tries too much on the offensive end.
Even this season, Wood's performance on the defensive end has not been smooth and perfect. Coach Dwane Casey often benched him because of his inability to execute the team's defensive strategies correctly. Learning to be in the right place at the right time allowed him to finally get consistent playing time and showcase his talent.
Wood also knows how to trust his teammates better on both offense and defense. On the offensive end, he no longer tries to force points. The idea that he can score one-on-one points is still in the theoretical stage. His ratio of back-to-the-rim singles to singles ranks at the bottom of the league at 221 TP3T and 101 TP3T. Instead of looking for opportunities to score on his own, he scores by handing the ball to his teammates and trusting it will come back to him when he's open.
The great thing about Wood is that he still has a lot of room to grow. As he enters his late 20s, he will get stronger and stronger, and he will face double teams in the NBA for the first time and begin to taste the defensive strategies. This kind of experience will give him more learning opportunities to read defenses, and will also allow his game IQ to continue to grow.
And what if he has a top ball handler next to him? John Collins is the only player in the league who takes more shots per game than Wood, and has a field goal percentage of 60% and a three-point field goal percentage of 35%. There is no Trae Young around Wood who can help him find opportunities. Think about it, he can still show good statistics in an environment dominated by Jackson!
Although he did not receive a guaranteed contract as a first-round pick, he has survived until now and has the freedom that his peers who were first-round picks did not have. Wood will become an unrestricted free agent this summer. Unlike restricted free agents who have matching contract terms with their home team, he can freely choose the next team that suits him best.
And Wood will also be the first choice for free agents this summer after Anthony Davis undoubtedly returns to the Lakers. Most of the unrestricted free agents are 30-year-old veterans like Danilo Gallinari and Marcus Morris, and the home team will probably match any contract with a useful restricted free agent like Ingram or Bogdan Bogdanovic.
The Pistons have a lot of salary space and motivation to re-sign Wood. However, he is also a reasonable target for some rebuilding teams with salary space such as the Hornets, Hawks and Knicks. Being able to add young players with star potential without losing anything (translation: just paying salary space) is not a common thing in the rebuilding process. Maybe a bidding war is about to begin.
However, due to the spread of the Wuhan pneumonia epidemic, the NBA this season came to an abrupt end. Wood not only lost games where he could continue to accumulate experience and demonstrate his abilities, but he was also directly affected by the epidemic and became the third player in the league to be diagnosed. In the face of a brand-new virus, all developments are still unknown, but we also hope that in the future, the name Christian Wood will no longer be on the hot search rankings because of the epidemic, but will be recognized by fans through more good goals.
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Reference for compiling this article:Get Used to Hearing Christian Wood's Name
