Christian Wood Has Work to do Before Making Final Roster

Christian Wood has had an incredible summer league showing so far, but has tons of work to do before he can be confidently named to the final roster.

Christian Wood has been having an incredible grouping of NBA summer league games so far. The Philadelphia 76ers and Delaware 87ers power forward has been arguably the best player in the Utah summer league, averaging over 40 points per 40 minutes after two games, according to Jonathon Givony of Draft Express.

Despite the incredible show that Wood is putting on, there’s lots of work to be done. Luckily, Wood knows that.

After being a top-rated high-school prospect, and then a projected late first-round draft pick, Wood fell in the NBA Draft, and ended up leaving his draft night as an undrafted free agent. Wood uses that now as his inspiration. To prove the doubters wrong.

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Wood’s NBA career started with him living through the consequences of not working hard. Wood was supposed to go in the first round, but a lack of dedication to his game resulted in him developing a large amount of body fat, which teams looked down at.

It showed poor work ethic, and an attitude that didn’t want to truly be in the NBA. Wood has since changed that attitude, though, it seems.

The Sixers picked him up last season with the hopes that he would still be able to reach the potential that he had when he was a first-round projection. He appeared in several Sixers games, but after the team loaded up its roster with more necessary pieces, he was waived and sent down to the Delaware 87ers several times.

Wood ended up on the team by the end of the season again, but his future with the Sixers is now in question as they bring on pieces that make the team a winning one.

Wood has spoken on how he’s gotten to this point in summer league, and why he’s been able to kill it so far this preseason:

"You know, I’m too weak to do this, and I’m too weak to do that. . . . Me being undrafted motivates me, too."

Wood has claimed that since last season ended, he hasn’t taken a day off. And that’s a good start. A good summer league showing is also a good start, given that Wood did not receive a qualifying offer from the Sixers, making him an unrestricted free agent. Wood is able to sign with any team that thinks he is playing well enough in summer league.

So, in a sense, this summer league is Wood’s second tryout for the NBA, as he’s putting on a show for all 30 teams to take a look at, hoping at least one will see what they need to see to sign him.

But that’s not the end of it, whether he impresses the Sixers, or any other team.

After summer league is training camp, and after that is preseason. There’s a lot of time in between now and when the Sixers and other teams can make their final decision on whether or not to name Wood to the final 15-man roster.

What does that mean for Wood? He needs to be on. 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. He can’t miss a beat on the floor, whether it’s in an organized workout, a summer league game, or a private workout with Sixers coaches.

Wood has done a solid job up to this point capitalizing on an interesting rookie season, but needs to take those next steps and show he is dedicated to making himself the best Christian Wood he can be.

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Wood is still playing catch-up after he slacked behind following his college career ending. Now he has to work double time. The work to find an NBA team is far from over for Wood.