The team Christian Wood joined is gone. It vanished quickly, in some ways predictably, but more rapidly than he imagined.
Wood had signed as a free agent to play for a team that featured a backcourt of James Harden and Russell Westbrook, in a frontcourt with P.J. Tucker. He was to be the final piece of a championship contender, or at least the sort of big man that fit so well, he could prop open the Rockets’ contention window with Harden a bit longer.
Westbrook was gone before Wood ever played for the Rockets, Harden a few weeks later, Tucker a few weeks after that. The plan barely lasted as long as the Rockets’ WOW lineup, now a trivia answer to the question of the short-lived experiment with Wood, Victor Oladipo and John Wall.
As Wood begins the second season of his three-year contract, he finds himself at 26 years old and in the middle of a massive rebuild, playing with teenagers. No longer a fringe player trying to find a niche in the NBA, his breakthrough half season with the Pistons and half season with the Rockets have established him as a respected big man, still with outsized ambitions that could be an awkward fit on a team so entirely retooled.
Wood, however, also found that he had changed. Even he sounded surprised to for once feel comfortable, to be happy with a place on the team the Rockets have become.
Now Playing:
“I developed patience,” Wood said. “I know what we’re trying to build and develop. I’m looking ahead at the future at what this team has to offer. I know we have a bunch of young talent. I said before, we’re not going to go in try to be the No. 1 seed or No. 2 seed in the Western Conference. But we’re going to try to play every game like it’s our last.
“I’m with it. I told Raf (general manager Rafael Stone.) I told Coach (Stephen Silas) I’m with whatever they’re trying to do and I want to stay for the long haul.”
Perhaps after the whirlwind of change, injuries and losses that filled his first season with the Rockets, there can be solace in slowing down. The teardown is largely complete. After that, he could understandably be more open to being around to build back up than he would have expected.
“It’s different,” Wood said with a laugh. “Coming in before, I wasn’t really expecting to be a part of a rebuilding process. I expected to play alongside James. I knew during the time he was going through the trade stuff, the GM, Raf, was telling me they weren’t going to try to do anything until the trade deadline. But James played his hand and one thing led to another. It was out of control.
“But I thought, I was expecting us to be a playoff team with what we had. Things happen. Trades happen. Couple guys get hurt and we go into rebuild mode. I think my role increased as James left and John (Wall) went down. The rebuilding part for me was something a little new, but I think I’m ready for it.”
Wood never had time for patience when he was trying to find a place in the NBA. But that too has made him happier with the Rockets because when he was doubted, bouncing between five teams in five seasons not including his stint in China where he was famously cut by the Fujian Sturgeons, he did have a stint in Charlotte when Silas was an assistant.
He played just 13 games for the Hornets and has been on four teams since. But Wood had not forgotten how his coach now believe in him then when few others did.
“I always said, Silas believed in me,” Wood said. “He always told me how much he believed in me, had that confidence and faith in me and belief in what I do on the floor. That goes a long way with anybody, to have a coach believe in them as much as he does with me.”
Wood’s own confidence was hardened by the struggles. He openly aspired to earning spots on the All-Star and Olympic teams last season, ambitions that were scuttled by an ankle injury Feb. 4 that changed his and the Rockets’ season. He was averaging 22 points on 55.8 percent shooting, 42.1 percent 3-point shooting, along with 10.2 rebounds, and the Rockets had won seven of eight games when he was hurt. They lost their next 20. Wood never fully recovered.
He returns at full strength, about 10 pounds heavier and no longer concerned with proving himself as an All-Star caliber player.
“I believe I’m a star right now,” Wood said. “(Recognition) comes with winning. I had a losing season last season, it’s not a secret. To prove your worth and who you are in this league, I think you have to win and that’s what I’m focused on.
“My main thing is just win. I’m not focused on the All-Star game or what my individual goals are, more so team goals. I feel like all the individual goals will come.”
Rebuilding would not seem to be a path to immediate success in the standings or the appreciation that would come with it. Wood, however, was not willing to believe he needed only better health and a few more wins to gain the sort of respect he has long sought.
He reported to training camp with 230 pounds on his 6-10 frame to better battle the full-sized centers. He embraced a move to power forward defensively in a frontcourt pairing with Daniel Theis to better use his combination of quickness and length, with the Rockets hoping he would have an advantage in one of those areas in most matchups.
Wood has sought to be more of a playmaker, not just out of double teams but off the dribble, as he showcased on several possessions in the Rockets’ scrimmage to close camp on Saturday.
“This year, you should see me switch onto more ball screens defensively, taking the ball up the court, getting guys into more actions,” Wood said. “I just want to be more involved in the offense in terms of just getting everybody involved.
“I’ve been passing out of double teams, just stuff that coach has been throwing at me that he thinks I’m going to see in the season and I think I’ve been doing a great job of getting my teammates involved.”
He has also been more vocal, seeking to be a leader for a team to include at least six players 21-years-old or younger.
“It’s a role that I think I have to step into and I think I’m ready for,” Wood said. “We have a young lineup and a young roster. I was the guy to have one of the most years and being one of the better guys on the team. So just being that leader, to show them where they are on the floor defensively and offensively.”
That would also represent a considerable change from the team he joined last November. That forced him to consider not what the Rockets have become but to project what they will become as Jalen Green, Kevin Porter Jr. and the other young pieces grow into their roles.
“If everybody plays to their best and I play to my best and not have any injuries, we’re a good team,” Wood said. “We need to build together. We need time together. Jalen and K.P. need time. Once everything clicks, it’s going to be scary.”
In that respect, for Wood nothing has changed as much as the timetable. Shoulders a bit broader, impatience somewhat reduced. Heading into just his second season with the Rockets, Wood might already hear the clock ticking on his contract, but he did not seem to mind.
“Same goal. It doesn’t change,” Wood said. “Mindset doesn’t change. Even more motivated now than before. I’m ready to seize that.”
jonathan.feigen@chron.com
twitter.com/jonathan_feigen
"wood" - Google News
October 05, 2021 at 01:19AM
https://ift.tt/3is8Q8T
Christian Wood finds patience with rebuilding Rockets but bigger goals remain - Houston Chronicle
"wood" - Google News
https://ift.tt/3du6D7I
No comments:
Post a Comment