In the evaluations that have come with the assorted crazy, injury-forced lineups the Rockets hope never to use again, they have ruled out one option for Christian Wood.
“I don’t anticipate him playing much more three (small forward),” coach Stephen Silas said.
The next decision, however, could influence those to come. The rebuilding will be around Wood in the frontcourt, and the Rockets would seem to want to know what position their brightest bright spot of the lost season plays.
The Rockets don’t see it that way.
Since the addition of Kelly Olynyk to the starting lineup, the lines between center and power forward, at least offensively, have been blurred if not eliminated. Defensively, Olynyk has typically matched up with the relatively traditional physical, full-sized centers, as he surely will Wednesday against the 76ers’ Joel Embiid, while Wood has defended forwards.
But Wood was brought in to play center. He is essential in their rebuilding while Kevin Porter Jr. grows into whatever he will become. What the Rockets need could depend on what they have. They just don’t see a need to define that.
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“My initial thought is that part of the benefit of bringing Kelly in — there have been a bunch of benefits — but one of them (is) we decided Christian is very versatile,” general manager Rafael Stone said. “We’d probably be comfortable at either spot.
“One thing is he’s a lob threat. It doesn’t seem to make a ton of sense to not use him that way. The other thing is he can be effective with another big guy on the court. It doesn’t matter who you call the four (power forward), who you call the five (center). He can also move his feet pretty easily and guard out there. One of the things that’s happened is we feel more comfortable with his versatility.”
That could also make sense given the Rockets’ situation. The team with the NBA’s worst record — no matter how much that has been dragged down by playing so often with nearly as many players out as in — could use talent wherever it can find it. In free agency, trades and maybe even in the draft depending how things go, the Rockets cannot be choosy.
Wood’s ability to play with a four or five should help that. But to be his best, Wood might be well served to play with the sort of big man, at either position, who can put a body on full-sized opponents and still shoot with range to give Wood room to work inside.
The Western Conference has become crowded with big men who are either physical offensively or strong on the boards or both, including Nikola Jokic, Rudy Gobert, Steven Adams, Jonas Valanciunas, Jusuf Nurkic, Enes Kanter, Deandre Ayton and Andre Drummond.
The Rockets would like to have an advantage when those centers defend Wood. His strength defensively has been, as with his offense, versatility. He has been able to switch to smaller players or match up against featured frontcourt scorers. But when the Rockets were good defensively before injuries overwhelmed them, Wood was at center with P.J. Tucker playing power forward, ranking second in the league in the too small sample size before Wood’s injury.
“I like bangers,” Stone said. “But we can make it work in a bunch of different ways. I don’t think ‘need’ is the right word. I think he can be Christian with a lot of different guys around him.”
The Rockets’ collapse with makeshift lineups might show that Wood is not going to be a center to erase defensive shortcomings around him. But he can score with any style of frontcourt partner.
“I would say I had initially envisioned him being more of a five who can slide to the four occasionally, but more of a five who can take advantage of the gifts that he has as far as picking and popping and rolling and finishing and making it hard on the defensive five,” Silas said. “He’s proven over time he can roll and seal switches and play against switches. That was the concern going in as far as would he be able to be not taken out of the game by switching, and he’s proven that he can do that.
“His versatility has not necessarily been a surprise, but his positional versatile versatility has been a little bit of a surprise. I’m comfortable with the four and the five, not necessarily the three.”
Olynyk, who will be a free agent, has been a find on several levels, excelling offensively and being the sort of veteran influence the Rockets wanted all season with their young players.
Offensively, Olynyk is not a perfect fit with Wood — both need to be involved in pick-and-roll and put in position to finish inside — but he is close. Olynyk’s range shooting and high-low passing frees Wood to work inside. Wood’s 3-point shooting — he has made 37.4 percent of his 3s, nearly matching Olynyk’s 37.8 percent — can allow Olynyk to work inside, where he has made 78.3 percent of his shots within five feet.
“The kind of push and pull and the versatility between him and Kelly has been intriguing and has been productive for both guys,” Silas said. “It makes you think a little bit differently about moving forward, what would be effective and what would not. Both guys are so versatile in that they can stretch the floor and also can play in the paint. They both can kind of handle the ball as well. They play a little bit similarly. Moving forward, we’re going to have to see if that’s something we want to continue to explore.”
Keeping Olynyk can be expensive, but the Rockets have his Bird rights. The Rockets won’t be able to stop there and have many other needs. But in determining what they need next to Wood will be nowhere near as difficult a challenge as getting it will be, believing any of the above will work.
“You want some versatility,” Stone said. “Yeah, you want physicality, you want some size with him, but it can come in an infinite number of packages.”
jonathan.feigen@chron.com
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