As of now, it looks like the Houston Rockets got a steal by signing Christian Wood for three years and $41 million. His $13.67 million average salary ranks at No. 32 among all forwards for the 2021-22 season, below names like Thaddeus Young, Andre Iguodala and Davis Bertans. Statistically, however, he blew those three out of the water — regardless of how poor his team's performance was.
In fact, he was one of just nine players with at least 20.0 points and 9.0 rebounds per game, and you'd be right if you assumed that the other eight guys on that list were making just a bit more than Wood. Even better is that this was only the first year of Wood's three-year deal in Houston, and things can only go up from the dumpster fire that was the Rockets' 2020-21 campaign. One area that can help with that is the NBA Draft, where GM Rafael Stone will have the pick of the (non-Cade Cunningham) litter with the No. 2 pick.
But what they do with that pick is anyone's guess. After Cunningham, there are some intriguing prospects, including the guy in the No. 2 slot on most analysts' big boards, USC's Evan Mobley. And that's someone who Houston will certainly have an eye on, though NBA analyst Kevin O'Connor of The Ringer points out the fact that they may go in another direction. We took the same approach in our mock draft earlier this week, for similar reasons as KOC presented in the latest episode of "The Ryen Russillo Podcast."
"I have Mobley as second on my board. I think if you factor in how they're gonna build this thing out — let's say Houston does take Mobley — there are some long-term issues with having him and Christian Wood in the front court together," O'Connor said. "The benefits are highly skilled bigs. Mobley can be versatile, he can protect the rim or defend on the perimeter. Offensively, he can space the floor out to three, he can do a little bit off the dribble for you. I think his passing and playmaking is way better than the numbers actually show. He's insanely talented.
"But when you have Christian Wood, who oftentimes gets bullies by bigger guys... you do need to have some beef with your top guys, and Mobley and Wood, both of them are (on) the leaner side, so I can see Houston look at this saying we'll take the scorer instead, take the Jalen Green, or take the shot-creator like a Jalen Suggs in that spot, or even considering a trade-down, for that matter."
Host Ryen Russillo thinks that they could still definitely have their eyes on Mobley, but he doesn't necessarily think they'll have to worry about pairing Wood and Mobley together? Why? Because perhaps a trade involving Wood is in order if Mobley is in their plans.
"I think Wood's incredibly talented, we know the numbers," Russillo said. "I think he's a tough guy to play with. I think he's a tough guy to have around... I think he's kind of a tough teammate. I'm talking about the locker room stuff, doesn't get the ball enough, shaking his head in the timeout, making sure everybody knows that he's pissed, you know. That kind of stuff."
O'Connor then asked Russillo if he thinks the Rockets would look into flipping Wood and getting some assets out of it — and they certainly could, given his production and his contract situation — and the two agreed it could make sense.
"Yeah, with that contract, and you were on it early, you were really on it," Russillo said, referencing O'Connor's article about Wood from 2020. "But I don't know that there's a pity party for any team when he's gone, alright, so I'll just leave it at that."
Most would think that an undrafted player who worked his way through teams as poor as the Process-era 76ers to land a prominent role as a star player would have the right attitude, but if Russillo has some sort of inside info that we didn't know about — and behavior issues have been rumored previously — perhaps we could see some movement on draft day.
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