Christian Wood signs 2-year deal with Lakers

[JB2]

This a a perfect situation for all parties. Lakers get an immensely talented offensive big who can play with AD or play for AD when he's out. His biggest weakness should be covered enough to make him unplayable by having AD and plus defenders all around him.

For Wood, he gets to go to his hometown/dream team, play with a strong squad with title aspirations, a very strong HC who understands players, with former teammate in AD, and without the pressure of having to carry a young team.

AD (30), Wood (18)
LeBron (30), Prince (18)
Rui (28), Vando (20)
Austin (32), D'lo (4), Max or Reddish (12)
D'lo (24), Vincent (24)

Mins and role are there.

[ryguy613]

No risk, high reward signing. Woods weaknesses are no secret, but I'm intrigued by his fit. He has never had a vet presence like Lebron or AD to reign him in, either he'll buy in or we'll get rid of his ass. Pelinka never left the kitchen.

This is basically the same as Russ signing with the Clippers. The talent is there but there are obvious concerns, but all of those concerns are mitigated by the fact that the lakers dont NEED him, and they arent paying anything for him. when you are able to add a a talented player to an already fully formed roster without giving up anything to get him, there really is no downside.

In a way yes, Lakers may not need him and can still compete without him, but if Ham finds a way to mask he weaknesses, maximize his strengths esp if AD sits about 20-25 games to keep him fresh for the playoffs. D'Lo and Rui combines for 30-40 points so they can also manage the load of Lebron for the playoffs, I think the Lakers have a much better chance of competing.

oh dont misunderstand. im really just comparing it to Russ in terms of the risk/reward element. People talked about Russ failing with one team and helping another. well its a hell of a lot easier to help a team when they dont have to give up anything to get him and hes practically playing for free. thats where the comparison ends though. in terms of the lakers roster? Its stacked. its arguably THE singular deepest team in the nba heading into the season. This team is a legit threat to get out of the west. its awesome.

[MagicMamba88]

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[Ballerhogger]

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[dockingsched]

No risk, high reward signing. Woods weaknesses are no secret, but I'm intrigued by his fit. He has never had a vet presence like Lebron or AD to reign him in, either he'll buy in or we'll get rid of his ass. Pelinka never left the kitchen.

I think there’s def a risk when a player has been a issue in the locker room. Remember the stink he make in Dallas when he wasnt starting and got his minutes taken.

Someone on a minimum contract won’t be a locker room issue cause they’ll just get cut before that ever happens. Doesn’t matter at what point of the season, he can get cut at any time with no downside for the lakers other than paying him to go away.

[BliscoSantos]

This is his last chance in the NBA...there's a reason nobody wanted him,something must be wrong with his attitude...he has few games where he looks like an all-star followed by a couple when he looks like he should not be playing...his three Point shot is good,Just don't let him drible,but he D is terrible....he's completely Lost on that side and doesn't even try...he makes too many bonehead plays,his BB IQ is very low

[andyhop]

Some people say there is no I in team, Wood believes there is no team in I.

[NyKnicks1714]

Some people say there is no I in team, Wood believes there is no team in I.

How long have you been waiting to use that one?

[oversteerdawg]

Never underestimate the motivation of facing down your NBA mortality

[dockingsched]

This is his last chance in the NBA...there's a reason nobody wanted him

I haven’t seen a single report saying that the lakers were the only team offering him a roster spot. Do you have a source saying no one else wanted him at all, even for the veteran minimum?

[bstein14]

His best role is limited minutes bench big coming in next to AD and with other good defensive players at the 1-3 spots. You can let him shoot and space the floor and get up shots for 16-18 MPG off the bench and try to hide his defense a bit.

[BliscoSantos]

This is his last chance in the NBA...there's a reason nobody wanted him

I haven’t seen a single report saying that the lakers were the only team offering him a roster spot. Do you have a source saying no one else wanted him at all, even for the veteran minimum?

Who else was??not a single report either...maybe Miami,but only for the minimum...why is that?

[Ballerhogger]

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[dockingsched]

This is his last chance in the NBA...there's a reason nobody wanted him

I haven’t seen a single report saying that the lakers were the only team offering him a roster spot. Do you have a source saying no one else wanted him at all, even for the veteran minimum?

Who else was??not a single report either...maybe Miami,but only for the minimum...why is that?

Marc Spears on ESPN reported that both the Heat and the Bulls also wanted him.

[lonzo_pelota]

Wanna see how he and AD look on the floor at the same time , especially if he buys into Ham's defensively philosophies even just remotely this could prove solid.

why would their minutes overlap?

because he can shoot good enough to stretch his man away from the paint in the halfcourt and AD doesnt like to play at the 5 all the time he actually hates it , so put Wood at the 5 AD at the 4

[Barnzy]

Lakers have been searching for their stretch big for a long time who can play spot minutes next to AD and allow AD to roam as the PF. Muscala forgot how to shoot, Cousins before he got injured, Marc Gasol who was way too old and they even tried to get Gabriel to start shooting and that went as well as you would expect.

Wood 42% on catch and shoot 3's the last few seasons (elite even for a guard let alone a big).

That's all there is to anaylze about this. If he keeps shooting like that it's a home run signing.

[Drakeem]

People will find any way to hate on the Lakers it seems.

He's a vet min signing. If they don't like him, they can boot him off the team. If he ends up giving them a beneficial 10-15 minutes a games? It's a win. This is a no risk, somewhat high reward signing.

[Mavrelous]

I haven’t seen a single report saying that the lakers were the only team offering him a roster spot. Do you have a source saying no one else wanted him at all, even for the veteran minimum?

Who else was??not a single report either...maybe Miami,but only for the minimum...why is that?

Marc Spears on ESPN reported that both the Heat and the Bulls also wanted him.

If you're a 17/10 player, with a good 3 pt shot, still young and only have vet min offers from 2/3 franchises only, it raises a flag.
FWIW, I didn't see anything justifying the lack of interest in him, he should at least be MLE player, yeah, he's lost defending the P&R, but he can score easily, and blocks the occasional shot.
People keep flashing his negative on/off rating, he didn't start as a negative in DAL, he was a positive, and fans started to demand he starts instead of that clown Javele, but Kidd kept toying with his minutes, calling him out in press conferences, until he stopped contributing.
There was a period mid season where the Mavs had 3-4 players out, they had a short rotation, and went on 6-7 games winning streak, Wood played his heart out in these games.
He didn't stick around anywhere, but from where I was watching, a lot of what happened in DAL was on Kidd, a lot on Wood too...

[queridiculo]

For a team that needs some more offense this makes sense, he has warts but he is very talented. Guy has yet to play for a good coaching situation so it's worth a try to see if Ham can find some gold here. He was an undrafted guy so he had to fight and claw to barely even make the roster of his first five teams. When he got discovered Dwane Casey was the coach and he didn't quite fit their timeline so they traded him to Houston, right when Harden was leaving and Silas was now the coach. And I'll tell you a lot of Wood's issues last year had to do with Jason Kidd

Don't care much for the "coaching" narrative when it comes to players like Wood.

He wasn't just discovered, first of all.

He's always had the tools and he tore it up in the G-league for years.

Teams simply ignored them because for all the talent that he brings, he's had a reputation for having a poor attitude, being unreliable being, having difficulty to absorb team concepts on both ends, and just overall not being somebody that you want to have in your locker room.

There is a reason why you see seemingly talented players like him bounce from team to team.

[itrsteve]

Hell of a signing, so much upside and he can learn how to be a professional being mentored by papa james.

Pretty pissed the lakers got him, perfect spot for him.