I have no catchy thread titles... sorry, I tried! This dude is not an NBA player. I'm sorry. Not yet at least. He's still a year away from being a year away. I think he'd benefit from a few years in Europe. Not the G-League, but Europe. It's unfortunate, because everytime he's in you so want him to do well, and maybe he'll have a block, or a put-back, or a decent 1.5 minute stretch. But on the whole he still hasn't caught up to NBA speed, he's still a huge liability if forced to switch on the outside - which he will be forced to do repeatedly, still not quick enough to the boards, still has pitter-patter feet on offense, etc. Not that the Pistons will release him, but since they'd have to waive him before the first game or otherwise his salary is guaranteed, any way the Rockets could pick up [former Rocket] Christian Wood if the Pistons are forced to release him? Here are Rockets players taller than 6'8 (per BBReference): Chandler, Hartenstein, Nene, Clint, Ray Spalding, Ryno. So one legit player/starter, two ancient backups that play the exact same way and nobody would have been surprised if they had retired, and a bunch of crap. This was the downfall of this roster last year, and will be again... imo.
He got abused by Poltl last night but Poltl is good. I have hopes for him as a role player someday, but that day won't happen in 2019-2020. He's only on the team still because his deal has guaranteed money.
Don't be that excited for Wood. He is very athletic but he has low bball iq and can't pass and has trouble catching passes in traffic. And about his defence? lol except from stupid needless blocks he is really bad. There is a reason that he hasn't been able to stick in the league. I watched him last season and as usual most fans were very excited about him. He is fine to play in blowout games when the result is already determined. Maybe he is better than what we have but he won't solve anything is my point. He is no solution
I'm not anticipating an all-star level guy. But with his warts, he can score and rebound... so clearly better than Isaiah, and at this point likely better than Ryno as well. Random... not that it's easy to do, or they even have the cap-space to do it, but I've oft been surprised that DM hasn't plucked guys form overseas more often, as he did with PBev back in the day.
