i love how people can make definitive statements about a players future level of talent - and sound so confident doing it... i particularly like how "He’s not a cornerstone piece"... but "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 mean i dont think he should really have any say in the decision making process of the org either... course i didnt think the bearded narcissist shoulda had that pull either - and he was an MVP... and we know how all that input turned out...
This thread acts as if Kevin Porter jr doesn’t exist. In 4 years kpj and Wood will both be top 40 players in the NBA. And also the 3rd and 4th best players on the team. Sky is the limit clutchcity/clutchfans
He's not, but he's easily on pace to be a 3rd best player on a championship team, and possibly 2nd best player soon after that. One smart thing Silas has done is kept him at C. In 1-2 years when he's ready to help contend for a title, the league will be even smaller and he will hopefully have put on a bit more muscle. Will work out perfectly, and the headache of finding a stretch 5 who can defend and hit a 3 (and rebound and score!) is gone. His salary makes it ok for us to wait on him. It's not getting in the way of a major signing or acquisition. Also interesting is if he is very good at the end of this season, we could package him with picks to get any franchise player that becomes available via trade. Hope he can stay healthy as he gets used to the minutes and number of games.
I'm sorta with you but disagree that he's peaked. Dude was just on his way to averaging 35 min a game.
Wood is stuck on the wrong team. He should be playing for a team whose owner isn’t intentionally tanking,
I swear, if this were a top 5 pick doing what he did no one would be saying this. The ONLY reason people are saying this is because of his backstory. Look at his numbers, pure numbers, they are simply all-star numbers from a big in the NBA. The team TANKED on offense and defense the moment he went out. I would agree if he were just getting dunks and oops. This is a guy taking wings and bigs off the dribble, dropping in floaters with ease, catching everything around the rim and finishing with a soft touch, hitting threes...these are not just fluke things where he's getting fed. You can give him the ball and he'll score. That's what makes him a cornerstone of this franchise moving forward.
Neither was LaMarcus Aldridge, but I'd still take a 25-year-old LaMarcus Aldridge. Many of you guys read like you are raging NBA2Kers in Franchise Mode. Relax.
I agree, and its the front office's job to find a REAL one. This is not a knock on him, Wood is a terrific player, and an excellent complementary player to our future top player. We have a small window of 3 years, to find it. One thing's for sure though, in his mind (wood) he is a franchise player superstar
There’s no denying his talent. Like someone said earlier: at 25 years old, his comp is a young Lamarcus Aldridge or Chris Bosh — neither are 1st or even 2nd options on a real contender. You don’t forfeit the tank and pass on building through the draft to go all in on a 3rd option player. That screams mediocrity and 14th pick to me. Best option is to sell high on him now and commit to the youth movement.
What’s the point of having a 25-year-old LaMarcus Aldridge if we’re rebuilding through the draft and our roster will be full of 20 year olds?
Guy can give you 20 ppg, 10 rpg 1.5 bpg and efficiently make 3s while still create his own shots rather than rely on PG/SG for him to excel. His attitude towards the game is also positive and wants to prove his worth. Seriously, wtf is there to complain about?! I doubt anyone here is expecting him to be the next Hakeem the Dream, but the glimpse of his talent is good enough to be hopeful, and surrounding him with the right stars will only excel his game. This is why many of us here are hoping that the Rockets land a proven star rather than rely on drafts.
Love it how people continuously act like they can say when a player peaked when even people that get paid a ton of money to do it professionally can’t really tell.
Also, how people think somehow the Rockets will land the next Jordan or LeBron James in the draft to downplay Woods talent or focus so much on the optics of him being 2nd, 3rd or 4th best player. Seriously, why does that even matter?! Wood can give 20/10 a night and that is a fact. Not every team needs to have a player that can give 30 ppg to win a championship or to be considered 1st, 2nd or 3rd best player in a team. 2003/4 championship Pistons team did not have a single player that avg more than 18 ppg nor had a 1st, 2nd or 3rd best player scenario. Each core player brought some talent on defense and offense and it worked. Simply said a team does not need to have LBJ or Kobe-type players to win a championship.
Portland would kill for a 25 yr old LaMarcus now. They got Dame.....decided to move on from LaMarcus (Or he moved on) Alot of people think Dame is a franchise player They still have lacked since LaMarcus left Rocket River I dont want that for the Rockets. I want both.
He's 25 and averaging 22/10 in his first year as a full time starter. He might not ever be a superstar but it's way too early to say he can't be. After 3 years as a full time starter nobody thought Kawhi would be nearly as good as he is. There is just no good reason to give up on Wood right now unless you are getting a proven star in return.
