Christian Wood Brings Raw Talent To Sixers
By Bret Stuter
Jul 11, 2015; Las Vegas, NV, USA; Philadelphia 76ers guard Pierre Jackson (55) keeps the ball away from Los Angeles Lakers guard Xavier Munford (14) during an NBA Summer League game at Thomas & Mack Center. Mandatory Credit: Stephen R. Sylvanie-USA TODAY Sports
#TheySleep
The Sixers team has many stories of players who faced adversity and used that challenge as motivation to train harder. Pierre Jackson injured his Achilles heel, and many thought his basketball future would be limited to pickup games. He used that discounting into a video series that he produced to keep his fans in the loop.
During his sophomore season Christian Wood had 7 games w/ 4+ blocks for UNLV (2.3 BPG average). He also scored 15.7 PPG & collected 10 RPG.
— NBA Draft (@NBADraft) June 13, 2015
From that promise to this picture.
This is about the saddest picture from an NBA Draft you'll ever see -- Christian Wood realizing he's going undrafted. pic.twitter.com/be7ttxLBuT
— Gary Parrish (@GaryParrishCBS) June 26, 2015
Sometimes it’s hard to do the work when you stand alone. But youth is not a crime, it’s a right of passage. It’s a test, a test of how hard you will hold onto a dream. Some of us fail that test, and let go, to settle in on something that “goes with the flow”. The challenge is that Christian Wood, being such a gifted athlete, must do his growing up, experience his painful moments, in front of a camera or microphone.
Wood’s teammate Pierre Jackson knows about going against the grain, and his comeback trail is well documented. It is that consensus of counting him out that has become the motivating mantra for Jackson, #TheySleep.
Tony Wroten knows about the comeback trail. His journey is still ongoing as well. Joel Embiid knows about doubters, as some doubt if he will set foot on a basketball court again. Nik Stauskas, just one year into the NBA, is now fighting the “bust” label. Throughout the Sixer roster there are stories of professional athletes that have to fight against a perception of not being quite right for the job.
Sometimes life has a way of pushing us down just a little, but we find that we grow larger from the experience, and bounce higher than ever. Whether by accident or some cosmic destiny, Christian Wood has ended up on an NBA team that is virtually ideal to assist him to be the most he can possibly achieve. He just needs to want in badly enough now.
I think we all do.