The Sixer Sense
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Christian Wood Could be a Smart Investment for Sixers

By Christopher Kline

Nov 9, 2015; Philadelphia, PA, USA; Philadelphia 76ers forward Christian Wood (35) in a game against the Chicago Bulls at Wells Fargo Center. The Bulls won 111-88. Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports
Nov 9, 2015; Philadelphia, PA, USA; Philadelphia 76ers forward Christian Wood (35) in a game against the Chicago Bulls at Wells Fargo Center. The Bulls won 111-88. Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports /
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With the roster likely changing over the course of the next several months, keeping Christian Wood as a long term investment could be an intelligent move, even if he doesn’t seem to fit a right away.

Coming into the 2015 NBA Draft, many anticipated seeing Christian Wood come off of the board in the first round, as his unique blend of length, athleticism, and shooting at the four spot seemed to seamlessly fit the mold of a modern day big man. However, after attitude concerns and other issues piled up during the pre-draft process, the once-coveted stud eventually fell out of the top 60, where he would eventually sign on to the Philadelphia 76ers’ Summer League roster as an undrafted free agent.

The Sixers’ frontcourt logjam, as it stands, as been well documented. The likes of Jahlil Okafor and Nerlens Noel struggled playing together last season, and the arrival of Dario Saric, Ben Simmons, and Joel Embiid will only make hashing out the rotation more difficult moving forward.

It appears that Philly is continuing to push hard for a trade that would rid them of one of their throwback bigs, but nothing seems imminent with several of their biggest suitors finding solutions via free agency.

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The Boston Celtics signed Al Horford to a four year deal, while the Los Angeles Lakers and Atlanta Hawks signed Timofey Mozgov and Dwight Howard respectively.

With that said, it would make sense for the Sixers to plan for a future without one of their current bigs on the roster. They will likely still garner immense interest on the market all the way up to the trade deadline, and Bryan Colangelo has shown no lack of desire to alleviate them from the rotational hindrance that Noel and Okafor supplied last year. In trading either one of them, the return package would likely feature a guard, which is why keeping Christian Wood around makes so much sense.

Wood struggled to stick with the team in general last season, appearing in just 17 games and never truly finding any rhythm to build off of. He was caught behind a whirlwind of better big men, attempting to make an awkwardly compiled roster with a lacking amount of opportunity. He’s still maturing physically and still hasn’t necessarily shown that he’s ready to produce in legitimate minutes at the NBA level quite yet.

However, Wood’s skills as an athletic stretch four are an excellent fit in today’s league. He moves around the court with excellent fluidity and possesses the shooting touch and explosiveness around the rim to evolve into a perfectly apt scoring threat at the next level.

Philadelphia’s current roster is built, in principle, on young pieces who can man multiple positions, with defensive versatility and open court athleticism being a focal point when looking at pieces like Ben Simmons, Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot, Jerami Grant, and Furkan Korkmaz.

Once they’re able to move on from one of their back-to-the-basket scorers, preferably Okafor, replacing that void with a sweet-shooting 7-footer like Wood makes a ton of sense. I’m far from convinced that Richaun Holmes has the talent to stick around as the team begins making strides towards competitiveness,  but Wood has all the tools to develop into the type of player who could.

Behind the Sixers current nucleus of bigs, Wood could give them a floor spacing option that is desperately needed alongside the incoming Saric, while providing a more capable defensive prospect than the Euroleague star in terms of guarding both the center and power forward slot as he continues to add bulk to his frame.

I understand the hesitancy fans or the front office would have in keeping Wood around after his somewhat underwhelming rookie season. However, if he shows that he is willing to put in the work needed to make improvements in the aspects that limited him, there’s no reason why a team that is still in a rebuilding mode can’t take a flyer and continue working through his ups and downs from a developmental standpoint.

Wood has shown out as arguably the best player on the court so far in Summer League, and seems to be making a valid argument towards keeping him on the team. The reasons why Wood was considered a first round talent a year ago still hold true today.

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He was never viewed as a ready product, and should still be considered a reasonable option for the time being. The Sixers are moving away from stationary scoring and shifting towards up-tempo, free-flowing offensive production, and Wood fits into their long term plans if he’s willing to prove his worth.