Hot take, but had to be said. I’ve seen too many fans bring up Wood when debating organization decisions moving forward: “We can’t tank with Wood” “Wood didn’t come here to tank” “Wood is going to walk in FA” “We need to keep Wood happy” “We need to accumulate assets and make a blockbuster trade to pair Wood with a co star” Who cares what Wood thinks and wants? He’s not a cornerstone piece. His opinion does not matter. People need to stop acting like Wood is 22 years old with leaps still to be made. At 26, he has likely peaked. At best, Wood is a fringe all-star and third option on a true contender. He shouldn’t have any say-so whatsoever in the direction our franchise chooses to go. Also, by the time we’re done tanking and building through the draft, Wood will be a 29 year old free agent looking for a max contract. I’d argue we should flip him soon for a massive haul of young pieces and picks.
yeah, he’s not a franchise player...people talk like we currently have Embiid, Jokic, or AD out with injury by the time the Rockets are back to being relevant and capable of making any sort of noise, Wood will probably be in his thirties...he probably won’t even be on the team people trying to use him as a reason against tanking has always been ridiculous and has never been convincing
I mean, who said he was a franchise player? I’m pretty sure most of the board will agree. he is pretty dam good tho. health is the only thing holding him back
Wood is really good. I could see him being a top 5 player(for a while) in his age 28-30 period. But his history of injuries is worrying. I think if we get top 4 in this draft :-(. We could really start building around the pick & Wood. Nwaba Tate House are also 3 exciting pieces. That should complement a star.
Well here’s the thing. If he’s not a cornerstone player, then he should be trade for future assets. He’s our most valuable asset at the moment if he isn’t a cornerstone. So I guess we should move him soon.
I need to see him do it for more than 3 months before I even say he is an all star. I am not sure he is still good by the time we have a good team again.
I mean, a fringe all star IS going to be the quality of a franchise player for this organisation. You really think an A-tier player is signing a contract knowing the franchise isn't going to do what it can to get them over the line in their quest for a championship. Face it. This franchise for the foreseeable future will be home to overpaid C-tier talent, or over the hill no longer franchise players. We're getting a great dose of that reality now
I think Wood's ceiling, at this point in time, is prime LaMarcus Aldridge. Dude who can get you 23/11, has great offensive tools and is decent on defense. So, like LMA, Wood can't be a clear #1 option.
Lmao come on. Try and be realistic top 5 for a while when there are plenty of younger players that are already better than him
I agree with the gist of this thread and said as much yesterday or the day before in response to one of those "Wood is here to win" takes. However, one thing I do disagree with is that he has necessarily peaked. He could have. It's possible. But lots of players do continue to improve all the way into their early 30's before they peak and decline. I know Dream is a special case but try to tell me he was as good as he got at age 25. Or for that matter, Harden. Star players can and do continue to improve beyond age 25 all the time. Now, of course, sometimes they get injured or lose their focus and begin to regress as well. We'll see how he does. But all of that said, the Rockets will come out ahead in any trade including Christian Wood right now. He's a young, borderline all-star vastly out performing his contract. Lots of teams would sign up for that. So I'm with you. If Wood isn't happy with the state of this team he can go. A more interesting discussion would be what we could get for him.
I think he's more similar to Chris Bosh but he wasn't the number one option on a championship team either. Number 3 in fact.
I know there's a chance that he won't become a superstar player, but if he doesn't, you have no right to say "I told you so!" You just said he is nearing his peak without any reasoning whatsoever. You come off as a hater.
Does that really matter when the Rockets are this terrible and still need to find the 2nd and 3rd members of a potential Big 3? I don’t think Wood will even be here whenever the Rockets are actually really good again because that is so far down the road.
