Player Facts
Height: 6'10"
Weight: 214lbs.
Date of Birth: Sep. 27, 1995
College Experience: UNLV (2 years)
Selections
All Star: 0
All-NBA: 0
All-Defensive: 0
Player Grades
Speed/Explosiveness: 8
Physical Strength: 6
Positional Size: 8
Positional Wingspan: 9
Paint Scoring: 8
Midrange Scoring: 6
Three-Point Scoring: 7
Dribbling: 6
Passing: 2
Perimeter Defense: 4
Interior Defense: 7
Rebounding: 8
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STRENGTHS
Intro
Christian Wood measures at 6'10" with a lengthy 7'3.25" wingspan. The UNLV product has a thinner build but houses remarkable wiry strength. Wood is a fluid, skilled offensive big.
Rolling with Purpose
The combo big Wood is an electric athlete in the frontcourt. His high motor shows as a rim runner on the break. This open-court energy pairs with his foot speed to equal a great target for teammates. Christian finishes these transition sequences with violent dunks.
In the confines of the half-court offense, Christian is an efficient scorer. He can slot in as the lone big on the floor or beside one. Wood is a sound screen-setter, capable roller and popper, and an offensive glass cleaner.
Christian forcefully barrels down the lane, his dive alone sucking in defenders. He's a high-flying lob threat with nice hands and a giant catch radius. Alternatively, Wood has a little push shot in his repertoire as a counter.
On the whole, Christian's advanced numbers as a roller are remarkable. He offered 1.44 points per possession on a high volume of rolls in 2022-2023. This earned him the 93rd percentile in the Association. The game's premier roll men like Domantas Sabonis, Jarrett Allen, and Bam Adebayo all fell short of that 1.44 mark.
Finishing Strong
Wood is a superb finisher on the inside. He plays a determined and gritty brand of basketball in the paint. Christian looks to dunk over or through anyone in his path. He complies and-ones and poster jams simply by playing this way.
He doesn't let his thinner frame deter him from being physical and aggressive at the rim. He lives in the high-60's up into the 70's in terms of conversion rate around the basket. C-Wood invites contract around the hoop in order to compensate for a relative lack of mass.
Wood also manages to get to the line very well. On his drives, he'll sell the dunk with well-timed up-fakes to lift defenders. Per 36 minutes, he averaged 5.8 free throw attempts in 2022-2023 with a reasonable 77.2% accuracy.
Stretching the Floor
As a pop man, Christian likes to lay back as the two defenders ice the ball-handler. He obtains plenty of wide-open looks this way. He nailed 39% of his above-the-break triples in 2022-2023.
Wood consistently pops out to three rather than the historically common long two. 2019-2020 saw him put up only 32 midrange jumpers against 140 threes, and he's kept up a simlar healthy gap since. Christian's shooting aptitude allows him to seamlessly play beside a non-shooting big.
He has a concise stroke as a 6'10" player. Wood does a good job of being shot-ready before the catch. The 9'3.5" standing reach that makes him an able rim protector also provides an insane release point.
Christian willingly pulls from deep when opponents don't respect his shot. Defensive bigs will foolishly give him a cushion of space, anticipating the swing pass or dribble handoff. Wood will recognize this and confidently let it fly in the face of sagging defenders.
Dribble-Ins + Face-Ups
He weaponizes the threat of his jump shot to ignite drives. Christian is very light on his feet and agile for a big man. He repeatedly looks to attack closeouts and routinely beats slower-footed bigs out on the perimeter. Wood begins these sequences with a nice pump fake oftentimes.
Wood takes long, loping strides on his drives. He also uses subtle off-arm movement to fend off defenders en route to the hole. Driving baseline to posterize the help man is a favorite of Christians.
In the post, he tries to leverage his quickness advantage with rip-throughs. Wood is much more of a face-up big than a back-to-the-basket type. He uses an explosive last step on his takes to elevate over the defense.
Corralling Rebounds
Christian is an energetic and bouncy rebounder at both ends. He compensates for a skinnier frame with lively second and third efforts. In 2022-2023, he collected 2.6 contested rebounds a night. This outpaced gritty forward board-getters like Scottie Barnes, Josh Hart, and Tari Eason.
On the offensive glass, Christian springs off the floor for the putback flush. If he comes back down with it, he immediately looks to get physical. After banging with opponents, Wood prefers the security of the two-handed slam. He placed in the solid 61st percentile scoring on putbacks in 2022-2023.
Sprinkling Paint Protection
On the defensive side, Wood is a reasonable rim protector for a predominant power forward. He tallied 1.5 blocks per 36 minutes in 2022-2023. Also of importance is how he typically keeps his foul count at bay.
He meets opponents at the summit with his lanky frame. Wood's fast feet allow for crisp rotations into the key to snuff out layups. Moreover, Christian collects blocks as an on-ball defender by sliding with opponents who try to drive on him.
Defensive Mobility
The fluid athlete Wood turns his hips and shuffles his feet nicely to contain oncoming slashers. This helps him to be quite switchable. A cautious defender, Wood stays down on shot fakes designed to get him airborne.
Christian continues his helpful defense in the post. His most meaningful attribute here is likely his springy legs, regularly blocking shots as the second man to leave the floor. Wood surprises post-players with how long he is.
WEAKNESSES
Offensive Pitfalls
Christian does well within his role on offense, but the role itself is not the most extensive. For instance, many teams task their bigs with initiating sets and feeding basket cutters. Only the most skilled bigs like Nikola Jokic can do this at an elite level, but Wood is still well below average.
He recorded a miserable 1.6 assists per 36 minutes in 2019-2020. What is more, he delivered a weak 2.7 assist points created per contest. Since then, his figures have only slightly bettered.
Wood could stand to vastly improve his post game both on a scoring level and as a facilitator. His moves are limited with his back to the basket. He lacks the go-to move-set of some other power forwards to punish smalls.
Christian's shot creation should be developed further. As it stands, he's much more of a finisher than an initiator on plays. This is fine, but the percentages are skewed too much towards assisted buckets.
71% of his buckets were assisted in 2022-2023 playing alongside Luka Donic and Kyrie Irving. Lacking a robust off-the-dribble game, Wood is reliant on guards and wings to spoon-feed him clean looks. For example, his 2022-2023 season's pull-up jumpers had a 19.6% mark versus a 41.8% mark on catch-and-shoot ones.
Unanswered Bully-Ball
The 214-pound Wood is one of the lighter frontcourt players in the game. Despite deceptive strength, bulky centers and power forwards can find themselves having 40+ pound weight advantages over him. No amount of wiry strength can effectively wall off these brawny bigs.
Defensive Inattentiveness
Christian's basketball intelligence on defense is seemingly short of a number of his peers. He somewhat masks this through athletic recoveries that bail him out of an initial mental miscue.
The raw tools are undoubtedly there for Wood, but his full defensive potential will not be realized until he ups his mindfulness and basketball IQ. As a last note, he can have bouts of obliviousness in terms of blocking out for the board.
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