Christian Wood told WFAA TV that he’s “counting my blessings” about the trade that sent him from the Rockets to the Mavericks in June. Wood, who spoke during a break at a youth basketball camp, said he’s focused on helping Dallas get even further than last season’s trip to the Western Conference Finals.
“It’s a great opportunity for me and for this organization to try and take that next step,” he said. “I just want to win games. My main objective is to try and get to the (NBA) Finals.”
Wood, who’s entering the final year of his contract, will add plenty of scoring and rebounding to the Mavs’ front line. He averaged 17.9 points and 10.1 rebounds per game last season, but he wasn’t in the Rockets’ long-term plans, so they shipped him to the Mavericks in exchange for four players and a first-round pick.
Wood said he’s happy to be in Dallas — both on and off the court.
“I love the city — it’s a little bit calmer than Houston, thank God,” he said with a laugh. “I’ve tried a few food spots out here, and the food is great. But I’m still trying to find my way around.”
There’s more NBA news from Texas:
- The Mavericks are hiring Nets scouting director Matt Riccardi to a senior front office position, tweets ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. Riccardi, who grew up in the Dallas area, has been with Brooklyn for the past 13 years.
- Several teams are monitoring Rockets forward Kenyon Martin Jr., who requested a trade in June, according to Michael Scotto of HoopsHype. After the Rockets re-signed Jae’Sean Tate and drafted Jabari Smith and Tari Eason in the first round, it doesn’t appear there’s a future for Martin in Houston.
- Tre Jones‘ contract for the upcoming season became guaranteed for $500K when he remained on the Spurs‘ roster past August 1, tweets Spotrac contributor Keith Smith. Jones, who would make $1.78MM if he gets a full guarantee, could challenge for the starting point guard spot now that Dejounte Murray has been traded to Atlanta. Jones made 11 starts last season while averaging 6.0 points and 3.4 assists in 69 games.
mavs going 82 – 0 christian wood for mvp
Not Jaden Hardy?
him too fs
Love this!!!
Who replaces Brunson?
i mean my comment above was a joke but in all reality, brunson was a 16 PPG scorer and we have tim hardaway jr and christian wood who on a good year could both average 17-20
There was me thinking you were a certain other Texas team fan no one has heard from for months, who must have moved to Dallas!!!! Miss that guy.
Joking aside, wood is good offensive but his D will need to addressed. As long as he has a good defender next to him, Mavs look good next year.
exactly. we’re probably not going to win the west in standings (although you never know) but we’re a contender as long as everyone plays well. luka is a top 5 player in the league, christian wood is greta offensively and we have a great perimeter defender in dorian finney smith, a pretty good defense center in mcgee, and jaden hardy who’s a steal along with some great depth in dinwiddie, green, kleber etc. i’m not sure why people say we don’t even have a chance to be contenders, we’re still a very good team.
People tend to back teams with multiple “stars”. Wood has been underrated and undervalued because he was on a losing rockets. Which explains why Mavs got him so cheap.
Problem is most other contenders have multiple all stars and better. Mavs have Luka and good role players. People will always back a team of certified “top” players over a well balanced team with one star.
I agree Mavs are and will be a good team this year. But to go the distance, I still think they need another top take over player, there are a few going to be FA next year so who knows. But what we can say is they have deffo improved their team this year. And with all the strong role players they have they’re in a good position to push for someone wanting out or who is available in the future.
Yep I agree, we probably won’t win the ring this year although i do think a deep playoff run can definitely happen (and you never know we could win but most likely not) we have to see if christian wood becomes an all star caliber player (which i thought he could be even before he came to the mavs as he usually averages about 20 and 10 on 50/39/80 shooting) and if not just hope we can make a deep run and play well. but yea i really think we need an all star player to pair with luka. id love to see him with pascal.
Being honest he probably should have been an AS in 21 but he got injured which wiped him out of the convo. He was also a fairly strong candidate for MIP but it went to Randle again because of his injury. He does have a history of getting injured which may be an issue.
But he played much better along side Wall so Luka will only make him look better. I’m not keen on Pascal I’d much rather see someone like Ingram wind up in Dallas and let the two of them blow up with strong D around them.
Just gotta remember Lukas only a kid, he’s got another decade and more. He’ll get paired with the right guys eventually even if it’s not in the next year or so.
Yea woods injury struggle isn’t great but that’s gonna come with a lot of skinny big men. And I actually was going to say Ingram too but that seems more unrealistic. I’d love to see that too though.
Mavs should continue to try and improve. Can Myles Turner and Wood play together? Go after Bojan and Clarkson? They have 3 tradeable 1sts. Bertans, Powell, Maxi, and Bullock are the contracts they’d trade. Dunno that 3 firsts is enough ammo for those 3 tho. But Mavs should go all-in.
I agree I’d be looking at flipping Bertans and a first for another upgrade.
Bertans and a first for Bojan Bogdanovic?
Bertans, Green and a first for Clarkson and Gay?
Bertans and a first for Doug McDermott?
Off all those suggested trades I’d get going for Bojan the most.
Luka Hardaway Bojan Wood McGee
Dinwiddie Hardy Bullock Finney-Smith Powell
Kleber for depth
Heading into next off season Bojan, Wood, Powell and Kleber would be coming off contract (54mil). That means you’d have money to make a chase for a big name if the season didn’t meet expectations however on paper it should go well.
Who is Jalen Brunson’s replacement??
20 points per game need to be accounted for somewhere else.
Wood and Hardaway.
Brunson averaged just over 16 points last year. To your point, when he was ‘on’ he’d easily get over 20 points. To Juicy24 point, Wood will surpass the production Brunson gave us. Hardaway will be another threat. Team is crazy deep but is still missing a piece. Mavs have several trade assets (mainly 1st round picks) that they can flip at the trade deadline.
Terence Ross would be a good pickup for The Mavs. As states above some of Utah’s players would be good. I think Conley would be the best player.
Agree that Conley would replace Brunson, I’m surprised that so far that hasn’t been trade rumored.
Wood was a good move. He is motivated by a contract. And Mavs are in a position to challenge in West. So they should get the best of him. Not really a fan of his character.
But the Mavs have gotten better.