I think we all knew he was a very good offensive player, one of 4 players in the league to average 19/9 and 38.5% from 3 over his two years with the Rockets.. Problem was he wasn't a good defensive player at the most important position on defense and he wasn't much of a team player, usually slipping those screens for his own shots rather than getting the teammate a quality look.
He would have put these numbers up with Harden, and may have cracked 20+ as well based on the very small sample size they had as a Rockets duo
Don't regret it but Wood was truly elite on one side of the court. If Jabari could develop into Wood on O with even better shooting from 3 he will be an all-NBA player.
A line up with: KPJ 6'6" GREEN 6'6" J. SMITH JR 6'11" WOOD 6'10" SENGUN 6'11" Would have been very very good offensively this season, and great in two or three seasons from now. Any of them would be able to get their shot off anytime they really want to. But everyone hated Wood, even the Rockets front office also since they shipped him off for TyTy. While none of them may never be great defensive players other than Jabari one day, with their size, a year or two of them learning to work as a team unit defensively would have made them good enough for top ten in my opinion, based on the team rebounding (which we are already good at, and would have been even better with Wood's rebounds), block potential, and ability for Wood and Jabari to guard players on the perimeter. There is no way a team could defend that group once they developed chemistry with Sengun getting the ball and working his ability to pass to any of the others to catch and shoot or drive. Now unfortunately, the Rockets didn't have that vision, and even if the front office did, we all know that Silas would never play the best rotations that we think will win. He would have made either Sengun, Jabari, or Wood a bench player, which would have cause havoc. Of course we would have won more games this year and messed up the tank mission that so many here love, so I guess many are happy. But I think the same way many want KPJ gone, is the Wood situation all over again. If we keep getting rid of players that can put up 20 points and get 10 boards or 6 assists and 6 rebounds with that 20 plus points because they are not perfect players or superstars, we will never build a contending team. Now imagine if we kept Wood, and still won the lottery this year with a bottom 8 record or better, and got the next great player after having a better season.....and then Harden really wanted to come back! Harden/ KPJ Green/Gordon Jabari/KJ Wood/Eason Wembayama (or whatever his name is)/Sengun That's all we would need to contend for the next 5 plus years, IMHO. But we gave Wood away for nothing and now most want to give KPJ away. Just sad.
I thought the exact same thing. This team with Wood would have been much better. KPJ and Wood were the only consistent offensive players last yr and KPJ the only CONSISTENT offensive player this yr.
KPJ definitely want consistent last year. He's definitely more consistent this year. A 19 year old rookie was more efficient than him last year at scoring.
Really? You calling Wood a black hole on OFFENSE? I mean if you want to talk about his defense, cool. But offense?
Yes. He wants to score, especially on a team like ours where he feels like the best player. He ain’t passing.
