Mavericks big man Christian Wood is emerging as an early favorite for the Sixth Man of the Year award, writes Dwain Price of Mavs.com. Wood, acquired in an offseason trade with Houston, torched the Grizzlies for 25 points and 12 rebounds Saturday night and became the first player ever to reach 25 points in each of his first two games with Dallas.
“He’s being himself and I think he’s getting comfortable each day as you see on both ends,” coach Jason Kidd said. “We need him to score. We’re not asking him to do anything that he hasn’t done in the past in other places.”
Wood was a full-time starter during his two years in Houston, so there were questions about whether he could adjust to returning to a bench role. It hasn’t mattered so far, as Wood has totaled 50 points and 20 rebounds in just 49 minutes on the court.
“I’m just trying to play hard and do the best I can in the role that I’m in, and that’s really about it,” he said. “I’m motivated coming off the bench or starting – either way. I’ve said that before. This team trusts me and their trust is even getting better with me in terms of offensively and defensively.”
There’s more from Dallas:
- Luka Doncic is making an early statement in the MVP race, according to Callie Caplan of The Dallas Morning News. Doncic was dominant in Saturday’s showdown with Grizzlies guard Ja Morant, scoring 21 points in the first eight minutes on his way to a 32-point night that also included 10 assists, seven rebounds, two blocks and two steals. “He’s playing the game at a different level right now,” Kidd said. “It’s kind of like he picked up where he ended last season, playing at an extremely high level for us. I thought his defense was [also] incredible tonight. One of the best defensive performances I saw — and he’ll tell you, too.”
- Facundo Campazzo, who signed with the Mavericks this week, remained inactive Saturday as the team tries to recalibrate his work visa, Caplan tweets. The Mavs hope to have everything finalized by Tuesday.
- The Texas Legends used a first-round pick in Saturday’s G League draft to add Amauri Hardy, the older brother of Mavericks rookie Jaden Hardy, per Brad Townsend of The Dallas Morning News. They were teammates last season with the G League Ignite. “I feel like it helps me a lot, having my family close to me,” Jaden Hardy said. “It’s going to be like home for me. It’s giving me that home feeling.”
6MOY (as well as ROY) bouta be claimed by Mathurin. His name gonna be on the ROY by Valentine’s. & Portis/Collin/Bogi/Schröder/Brogdon better hope Buddy Hield gets traded at some point if they want 6MOY bc he’s abt to stamp that as well if he stays coming off the bench all season… link to m.youtube.com
over the course of the full season, kevin love should be in the 6moy conversation also.
Christian Wood will be starting before 20 games is in the books.
He’s better off coming off the bench tbh. Same would have been true for KP if they couldve convinced him to do it longterm. Luka is extremely ball dominant. Big time scorer like to get in a rhythm & thats difficult playing with Luka. He’s obv a very willing passer & has great vision but 95-100% of the time Luka is looking for whoever is open & not necessarily looking to get specific guys going. That’s Euro basketball basically. Over here in the NBA it’s also important to get certain guys their shots so they can get their rhythm. Extremely impressive thing about Bron is how he was able/willing to feed Ilgauskas early in his career. Luka doesn’t quite have that mentality yet & Wood will get featured way more playing with the 2nd unit
I remember a similar article last year about Carmelo looking like a 6moy candidate.
Haha, good point!
I really don’t understand why the Lakers didn’t bring back Carmelo. He was still a good shooter. Played well for Portland and played well for the lakers.
Speaking of MVP, has anybody noticed the numbers Mitchell in Cleveland is putting up so far? Compare with Luca.
Wood will be starting soon. As soon as he shows he can play some D. Mavs better with him at C.