Christian Wood... Would you trade him? (Fit seems off)

Zion Williamson has major problems.

1. His legs are not straight, the way he lands and his weight, can injure his knee and his feet.

2. He had a fracture in his foot and had surgery this off-season.

3. He can't control himself in his diet, he gets overweight, looking slow.

4. Not worth trading for Zion, I feel like Zion is going to be similar to Grant Hill injury what if and out of the league quickly.
Joel Embiid looks like he 35 years old, he has less than 5 years left on his body. Before 30 Joel can be productive.

 

My hesitation to trade Wood begins with three facts -

Only 5 players in the league average 20/10 while shooting 37% from three. That's a guy every team is looking for.

That any draft pick you get for him isn't likely to put up similar numbers at any point in his career.

And finally big men take longer to develop , it might be 3-5 years before a draft pick "is ready".

I'd be content trading him .... but you have to sell me on what you are getting in that trade that makes it worth giving up that player literally every team in the league is looking for.

He's definitely been frustrating this preseason but how much of that is having no structure to the offense ?

The other 5 players who average 20/10/37% average salary / years remaining.

Julius Randal - $20.7m 3 years
Nikola Vucevic - $23m 2 years
Karl Anthony Towns - $33.83m 3 years
Joel Embiid - $32.6m 2 years
Nikola Jokic - $31.5m 2 years.

What's it going to cost a team to resign / extend those guys and how does that compare to Wood's potential max of ~$36m starting in 2023/24 ? (assuming he's matched last years numbers the next two years).

Vucevic probably doesn't get another big contract because of his age and probably declines beyond the terms of his current deal.

Julius Randal is an absolute bargain at that figure over the next two years. What's his next contract look like if he continues to post 24/10-41%
Jokic is gonna cost you the supermax 35%.

KAT is already on a max (25%) and his next contract is probably at least 30% if not supermax 35%.

Embiid could be looking at a supermax 35%. I wouldn't want to be the team that gave him that contract tho - just too many injuries.


A potential deal for Wood is no more than 30% of a projected $121,575,000 or $36,472,500 beginning in 23/24 - with Wall & EG coming off the books and you having ~$59.5m in cap space to use before resigning Wood with bird rights.
The kicker here is that KPJ expires at the same time and who knows what it'll take to keep him - assuming you want to.


That $36m in 23/24 isn't a toxic contract. Nothing like Wall & his 35% supermax today. What makes his contract even worse is that the cap didn't rise at its customary rate year over year because of Covid.
Assuming Wood performs at a similar rate over the next two years , that $36m is market value and probably a contract that's easily moved should you want to change course.

 

I'd really like to see our chemistry with Wood at the 3.

 

I think 36 mil as a starting figure for CW is a toxic contract and one that won’t have that much value in a trade

not all 20 and 10 stats are the same…Julius Randle wet the bed in the playoffs, but he did guide his team to the playoffs…CW has been guiding his team to L after L

Vucevic now, or if we made him Wood’s age, would not be that desirable if he were making 36 mil/yr, and I think he is better than Wood to begin with

Wood puts up 20 and 10 which is nice, but it’s routinely in blowouts and beatdowns

How can I give u a max when your impact isn’t there? I’ll take whatever we get in a Wood trade than to be tied to that anchor of a deal.

 

Wood dropped 19 and 19 tonight, but the Rockets still got the brakes beat off of them and never lead, and this will be the story all year

team just as sh*tty as ever regardless of what stats Wood is putting up as we’re down 20

 

Rockets beatdown was not on Wood.

If not for his 20/20, I shudder to think how bad this beating would have been.

And Wood put up these numbers playing stretch 4 for most of the night instead of in his accustomed spot in the pivot.

If anything, why was he greenlit to handle the ball so much, those TOS were egregious.

It's the House Effect.

 

Julius Randle had his best season only after joining Thibs, installing a system and NYK signed a ton of vets to complement him.

Coaching matters.

System matters.

Complementary vet role players matter.

 

Woods value as a 20-10 guy, I'd assume, would be exponentially higher with a legit superstar next to him. 20-10 ontop of LeBron production would be amazing to have. 20-10 on top of garbage is still garbage

 

Knicks were still projected to be terrible last year, but they greatly overachieved, Randle elevated his play, became an All-Star, and still, he didn’t get a max deal

If Knicks had signed Randle to a max, we’d all be laughing at them and calling it a typical Knicks move, but then people are just ok with giving Wood a max or something close even tho he hasn’t carried a team to any modicum of success and isn’t even a top 20 player?

 

Giving Wood the max is just CF diddling themselves into a lather and promoting false narratives as to why Wood should be traded.

 

sure, but it would be the legit superstar who would be doing all of the heavy lifting, and it would be best if there’s a legit superstar, a good 2nd option, and u can slide Wood in as the 3rd option he’s supposed to be…that won’t be the situation here in Houston any time soon so I don’t get why people are advocating for paying him big money

and I also don’t rate Wood highly on the defensive end…he’s basically a worse version of Vucevic to me

Vucevic’s been putting up 20 and 10 in L’s for the longest time, but no one would want him as their 2nd best player or to be paying him anything close to the max

 

I mean, I was quoted with a post saying that a max for Wood is market value and not a toxic contract, and there’s several posts advocating for paying him big money even if it’s not quite his max

 

I didn’t like the Wood/Sengun pairing too much, they can torch some teams, but some teams will torch them. Sengun will win out eventually and all 3 of Theis, Garuba, KJ pair well with him.

Want to keep Wood till he’s had a long stretch of healthy games to peak his value and if he doesn’t improve on defense or more on offense then we look for a great pick in return. He’s going to put up great stats this year, and honestly it looks like he is our most reliable scoring threat right now so let’s see what he shows.

Really wish he would be a bit smarter defensively and on the ball decision making.

 

Solid post, I just don't think he fits the timeline. Also, you're forgetting about sample size. Those other players have been doing that or near that for a while, while Wood has really only done it for roughly half a season.

Another thing to factor in, is that yes, any pick we get likely won't put up those numbers, but if we combine picks you may strike gold. Sengun is a perfect example of how having late first rounders down the road can be used to attain better picks, so while Wood may never be as good as say a 15th pick, if we combine the 15 the pick with say the 6th, to move up to top 4, that can be the difference between getting an All-Star and a rotation player. Many reports are that is what OKC is doing with their picks, they don't intend to actually draft 18 players in the next 3 years.

With or without Wood, we will probably be a bottom 3 team this year, maybe next as well. We have far less to lose now, then in the future when we don't own our picks. And for the people that say....;but we have Brooklyn's pick, it won't console us to get Brooklyn's 28th pick in 2025, after we give OKC our top 10 pick. All that said, I'm fine with keeping Wood, but he needs a creator to properly shine.

 

don't like him bring the ball upcourt

 

After years of decent Rockets FT shooting (even Capela, given his progression from a 17% shooter to 60% shooter) having to watch Wood especially clang shot after shot off the iron and maybe get 1-2 at the line is unduly frustrating, especially given his ability to draw fouls.

 

stopped reading at doesnt fit the timeline

 

Wood, Sengun, Kyrie, Ben Sitmonths
BIG 4 = Contention
LET THE NEW ERA BEGIN

 

Yep, I rest my case.

CF is always trying to trade away our players at the drop of a hat.

Doesnt mean it's the smart move.