I have grown to HATE how Christian Wood plays basketball.

I don’t like Wood but I disagree. Jabari Smith is not a one on one player. He has trouble on his dribble drive or iso plays since his ball handling isn’t great and he doesn’t have a good first step or a post game. Wood doesn’t have lightning quick first step but he is still quicker on the dribble drive than Smith. His handles are better and he has somewhat of a post game. And he has moves off the dribble transitioning to a step back, pull up or dribble drive. Smith is a very stiff player but superb shooter and terrific defender. He can pull up shoot as well maybe better than Wood. If he doesn’t try to do too much and just plays his role he can be Klay Thompson like and that would be far better than Wood.

 

Both Wood and Paolo are 6'10.

But Paolo wishes he can average 39% from 3P.

And if Paolo ever averages 20/10 everyone on CF will scream he's an All Star.

Of course both Wood and Paolo are below average defenders. Yet only Wood is excoriated for his poor effort on defense.

Wood is actually the better rim protector (7'4 v 7'0 wingspan) and he is 40 lbs lighter.

 

at least Paolo won’t bring the attitude problems and overall selfish level of play that Wood does…at least I hope

Wood is the type who could tell u everything about his boxscore postgame without even looking at the stat sheet because all he cares about is himself and his numbers

Wood will smile and joke with the opposition down 30 if he has at least 25 points

 

you just described John Drew. Remember who he was traded for?

 

Christian Wood was a 26% 3 point shooter in college!!!! In his first 4 professional seasons he was basically a 35% shooter from 3. Banchero eclipses everything that Wood did in college by a mile minus rebounds so using the same Pro Wood logic Banchero too should be a better 3 point shooter as a pro AND he adds a more dynamic install into the offense with a better NBA body to offer resistance on defense.

Imagine trying to clown Banchero using Christian Wood year 8 professional stats! The lengths some will go.

 

Except Paolo hasn't played a game in the NBA yet, and he's 20 years old....

 

Attitude and age aside, are you denying that Wood is not better than Banchero offensively AND defensively?

Wood is even the LONGER more explosive athlete.

And Wood fits the Rockets 5 out system more than Banchero.

Tell me I'm wrong.

 

Wood is not more “explosive” than Banchero. He certainly wasn’t in college. Compare Wood’s college highlights to Banchero’s — Wood’s highlights are filled with jump shots, whereas Banchero’s are filled with slashing to the rim. There’s a reason why Wood went undrafted and Banchero is probably going too 3.

 

Why are we comparing Wood and Banchero, anyway? They are very different players. Wood is more Prozingas and Banchero is more Blake Griffin.

 

You are using severely flawed logic. Compare Wood to Banchero in college. Dont use a bogus assessment AFTER one guy has time to develop professionally and the other hasnt even played one NBA game.

Its pretty dumb actually.

 

Think you've forgotten the 2013 draft.

Wood initially rated as lottery pick due to length and college production (double double machine - 15/10 with almost 3 blocks).

Even up to days before draft pundits still had him as late first.

It was his team interviews, body language, overinflated ego and background Intel (laziness, effort on defense, entitlement, missed meetings, etc.) that knocked him out of the draft, not talent, not his skinny frame.

And yes, Wood loves his jumper, but he was certainly the more explosive finisher and above rim player compared to Banchero.

 

Elite prospects don’t fall out of the draft completely due to “attitude” concerns. That’s nonsense. Falls like that are reserved for borderline prospects. And you can keep repeating yourself, but it’s interesting that you can’t provide a shred of evidence.

 

LOL

Since you dont know how to google, here is a freebie from draft express.

http://www.draftexpress.com/profile/Christian-Wood-7182/

And below was a NBA lottery hype video played during the actual NBA draft telecast.



http://www.draftexpress.com/profile/Christian-Wood-7182/

 

So, to show that Wood was a more "explosive" athlete in college, you post a minute-long hype video with a couple dunks, and a draft profile that says he's not ready to contribute in the NBA after MULTIPLE years in college? Find me ONE draft profile of Banchero that says anything like this:

 

IDIOT - "Is Paolo Banchero an upgrade over Wood?"

 

Not defending Wood too much but we're enjoying (or not enjoying depending on your pov) Wood as a finished product right now. You, at least know, his strengths and weaknesses already.

If Banchero busts his first 6 years and then finally gets his production to what Wood is now, that'd be such a waste of a top three pick. The cheap rookie deal wasted and he likely won't even be on the team by then.

There's a time investment cost that goes into a young pick. At least with Wood, the Rockets didn't have to pay that cost, other teams did.

What are people's timeline. Cap space is more free at 2023-24. But even the most optimistic, probably take at least 2-3 years for Rockets to get real good. If Wood is gone, it's highly unlikely Banchero will give you Wood's production and efficiency in his first two years. As a team it's likely to get worse before it gets better. This is sad since we're already last in the league two years in a row.

The skillset comparison of a one way big is fair, at least based on current info. Paolo better passing and Wood with better 3. Can Paolo be better... it is likely, but how much... he might stop at a Boozer level... who knows. Remember this Jabari/Chet/Paolo class is not the Cade/Mobley/Green class.

Career trajectory aside, saying we have a offensive minded one-way PF/C on the team is fair. Wood is microwave ready. Paolo still have to bake it in the oven. It might end up tasting better, might not, but for sure will take longer while we kinda starve.

We've seen what a two to three non 3pt shooters looks like Silas' 5-out system. Theis is easy to trade away, a top 1-3rd pick, you're likely stuck with for at least 2-3 years. Much harder to pivot. Not to mention eggs on Stone's face.

 

And offensive production aside, will Banchero be held up to same standard of defensive inefficiency or effort as Wood?

Wood is a knucklehead no doubt but his offensive numbers are nothing to sneeze at, especially his ability to average double digit boards, space the floor and shoot 3P% at near elite level.

Banchero will need to work on his 3P to get to 39%. Maybe take several seasons if at all.

My question is does Banchero's offense improve the team in terms of W's compared to Wood during this development period.

Because we already know that Banchero's defense will not improve the team, similar to Wood.

These comparisons are to invite discussion, not necessarily conclusions.

 

Are you going to parse the words now - athletic, above rim player, explosiveness - are usually interchangeable depending on usage.

And interesting how you missed this quote below - it was only the very first sentence in his profile that you dug deep into to pull your own quote.

Source: http://www.draftexpress.com/profile/Christian-Wood-7182/ ©DraftExpress

Here's another from nbadraft.net:

Seriously, you usually do your due diligence better than this.

 

How could anyone forget the 2013 draft?