Too bad we never gave Christian Wood a chance

[13 - 3]

Happy he has found success in Houston

Houston star Christian Wood on the Rockets? remarkable turnaround: ?I believe it?s real.? https://t.co/k8iAokxWzK

— Tim MacMahon (@espn_macmahon) December 10, 2021

[new city champ]

We did give him a chance and he played pretty well for us. Question is what happened after end of 2019 season. I can still remember Joel Meyers broadcasting how Wood was going to be sticking around in the offseason, working out at the facility and playing for the Pels' Summer League Squad. As it turned out, he never suited up (though I recall him sitting on the bench near Zion). Never been clear on what went down, but we never even made him an offer and he could have been signed cheap that offseason. I was puzzled by it then and I've never heard a clear explanation on what happened, just rumors and conjecture...

[As I See It]

We did give him a chance and he played pretty well for us. Question is what happened after end of 2019 season. I can still remember Joel Meyers broadcasting how Wood was going to be sticking around in the offseason, working out at the facility and playing for the Pels' Summer League Squad. As it turned out, he never suited up (though I recall him sitting on the bench near Zion). Never been clear on what went down, but we never even made him an offer and he could have been signed cheap that offseason. I was puzzled by it then and I've never heard a clear explanation on what happened, just rumors and conjecture...

It's simple....

Griff and Trajan thought that Nicola Melli offered more to the team than Wood. Guarnteed...if you offered the same two year contract we offered Melli, we would be sitting in a completely different position today.

Further, if we had just offered similar money to Julius Randall, that we ended up spending on Derrick Favors (forget about the two draft picks we had to give up to get him when Utah was desperate to deal him so they could find the cap space to sign Mike Conley) things would be considerably different.

I guess Griff and Trajan put all their eggs in the Zion-JAX-NAW-DiDi basket and dropped them somewhere along the way.

[new city champ]

Certainly seems plausible. Wood was clearly flashing his potential by the time he got his run with the Pels. Didn't have to be clairvoyant to see that. On Randle, I understand he would have been highly duplicative of Zion's skill set (at that time at least) but was interested in seeing how they would be on the floor together. Imagine defense would have been a wreck, but those two bowling balls would have been hell on opposing teams when going to the rim.

I don't really like playing the "what if" game, as obviously every franchise has their share of misses and wrong turns on talent. But you have to need to make enough correct calls to build a winning team. Letting a Wood or Randle get out of the building in favor of a Melli or a Favors is a set back. Passing on a Herro or a Washington in favor of Hayes is a set back. Wanting a young point guard but drafting Lewis instead of Maxey or Anthony is a set back. Letting Lonzo Ball go and not getting anything back for him is a set back.

Too many such set backs--not Zion's injury--is the real reason we aren't a more competitive team right now...

[6warddude]

We did give him a chance and he played pretty well for us. Question is what happened after end of 2019 season. I can still remember Joel Meyers broadcasting how Wood was going to be sticking around in the offseason, working out at the facility and playing for the Pels' Summer League Squad. As it turned out, he never suited up (though I recall him sitting on the bench near Zion). Never been clear on what went down, but we never even made him an offer and he could have been signed cheap that offseason. I was puzzled by it then and I've never heard a clear explanation on what happened, just rumors and conjecture...

well the insider on the board said that the org. were saying wood was hanging around shady people or something in that ball park and thats why griff didnt want to pay him......now, if im wrong im sure they will come on here and correct me...

the only stuff i heard about wood was that his girlfriend dumped him at the airport because he didnt get drafted...i guess he used that and other reasons to work hard to get a chance to get in the nba and his hard work paid off.....wood was happy he had a shot here and wanted to be here and thought he would be here but griff had his reasons to not sign the guy.....

i met julius and his wife a couple of times and both loved it here and wanted to be here....i guess you can question the fit with him and zion but my thing is, when you have players that want to be in new orleans then you need to find a way to make it happen....you can always trade someone away but try to make it work first...this new orleans and as some say on here, free agents dont want to play here....

[As I See It]

well the insider on the board said that the org. were saying wood was hanging around shady people or something in that ball park and thats why griff didnt want to pay him......now, if im wrong im sure they will come on here and correct me...

the only stuff i heard about wood was that his girlfriend dumped him at the airport because he didnt get drafted...i guess he used that and other reasons to work hard to get a chance to get in the nba and his hard work paid off.....wood was happy he had a shot here and wanted to be here and thought he would be here but griff had his reasons to not sign the guy.....

i met julius and his wife a couple of times and both loved it here and wanted to be here....i guess you can question the fit with him and zion but my thing is, when you have players that want to be in new orleans then you need to find a way to make it happen....you can always trade someone away but try to make it work first...this new orleans and as some say on here, free agents dont want to play here....

Post of the Year!!

[AusPel]

well the insider on the board said that the org. were saying wood was hanging around shady people or something in that ball park and thats why griff didnt want to pay him......now, if im wrong im sure they will come on here and correct me...

the only stuff i heard about wood was that his girlfriend dumped him at the airport because he didnt get drafted...i guess he used that and other reasons to work hard to get a chance to get in the nba and his hard work paid off.....wood was happy he had a shot here and wanted to be here and thought he would be here but griff had his reasons to not sign the guy.....

i met julius and his wife a couple of times and both loved it here and wanted to be here....i guess you can question the fit with him and zion but my thing is, when you have players that want to be in new orleans then you need to find a way to make it happen....you can always trade someone away but try to make it work first...this new orleans and as some say on here, free agents dont want to play here....

It's great that Julius wanted to be here

But he and Zion play the exact same position

[As I See It]

It's great that Julius wanted to be here

But he and Zion play the exact same position

One plays in less than 50% of his team's games, only shoots on one level, and isn't particularly a good rebounder. The other is an 'Iron Horse', can shoot on all three levels, and is a rebounding machine.

But that's not the reason we should have re-signed him, we should have re-signed him because he is a bonified frontline NBA player and because he HE WANTED TO BE HERE. Once he's in the fold, you have a marketable asset (same reason we should have matched Lonzo's offer, by the way).

[6warddude]

It's great that Julius wanted to be here

But he and Zion play the exact same position

i get that but julius came here willing to play the 5 so im thinking draft zion, roll with julius at the 5 and see how it goes...remember we still had gentry as the coach so that lineup was perfect for gentry...now if you want to go with fit on defense then thats something else but for gentry its perfect......if it didnt work out then we still could have trade him....

[13 - 3]

It's great that Julius wanted to be here

But he and Zion play the exact same position

Imagine keeping Randle and drafting Morant instead of Zion

[da ThRONe]

Imagine keeping Randle and drafting Morant instead of Zion

Realistically drafting Morant was never an option.

[da ThRONe]

One plays in less than 50% of his team's games, only shoots on one level, and isn't particularly a good rebounder. The other is an 'Iron Horse', can shoot on all three levels, and is a rebounding machine.

But that's not the reason we should have re-signed him, we should have re-signed him because he is a bonified frontline NBA player and because he HE WANTED TO BE HERE. Once he's in the fold, you have a marketable asset (same reason we should have matched Lonzo's offer, by the way).

Leaving Williamsons injury history out of it letting Randle walk is terrible. You keep good players period. They can learn to co
-exist or one can be traded for value. You don't want talented players walking for no return if it can be helped at all. That's basic team development stuff that our front office doesn't seem to process.

[PELICANSFAN]

Leaving Williamsons injury history out of it letting Randle walk is terrible. You keep good players period. They can learn to co
-exist or one can be traded for value. You don't want talented players walking for no return if it can be helped at all. That's basic team development stuff that our front office doesn't seem to process.

Nice in theory, but there is something called a salary cap.

[da ThRONe]

Nice in theory, but there is something called a salary cap.

It's not a problem if you don't waste cap space on bad players.

[PELICANSFAN]

It's not a problem if you don't waste cap space on bad players.

So you think a team would invest $20+ million a year on a player that plays the same position as their star player? At least be realistic in the criticism.

[da ThRONe]

So you think a team would invest $20+ million a year on a player that plays the same position as their star player? At least be realistic in the criticism.

James Harden and Kyrie Irving are both PG's. That didn't stop Brooklyn for aquiring top end talent.

[PELICANSFAN]

James Harden and Kyrie Irving are both PG's. That didn't stop Brooklyn for aquiring top end talent.

Harden is not a "PG" per se. He is a combo guard.

[13 - 3]

Oops. Not the worse pass ever. Still glad he is getting playing time. Wood did the right thing by buying her future tickets

Christian Wood nailed a fan with an errant pass �� pic.twitter.com/Au16h722bF

— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) December 28, 2021

https://www.tmz.com/2021/12/28/chris...d-errant-pass/

[Century City]

Harden is not a "PG" per se. He is a combo guard.

I used to think that but in order to be a 2G, you need to learn how to move without the ball. Harden just stands around and waits to get the ball when he's playing with a true PG like Chris Paul.

When he plays on the ball, he breaks down defenses and makes things happen. His assist numbers are no like. He's one of the better passers in the league but it gets overshadowed by his scoring.

Kyrie is a nut but he did get one thing right. Playing off the ball in order to allow Harden to be the main playmaker was the best thing that could happen to the Nets. They just need to find a way to get on the floor at once....