Christian Wood Has Sam Hinkie to Thank for His NBA Job

Christian Wood has locked up a contract for next season, much of that due to hard work in summer league. But Sam Hinkie gave him his start.

The Philadelphia 76ers unfortunately missed out on the Christian Wood “sweepstakes” (if you would call it that) this summer. Fans were expecting that to happen. Despite Wood being on the Sixers’ summer league team, there wasn’t much room on the final roster for him to fit. The Sixers have a loaded frontcourt already.

Wood signed with the Charlotte Hornets on Wednesday night.

Still, Wood was working hard in summer league to get noticed by any NBA team looking for a big man.

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Wood went undrafted in his rookie season and had a rough freshman season due to being sent back and forth to the D-League and being on 10-day contracts a few different times. At every moment last season, Wood was fighting for his career.

As of Thursday, Wood was averaging 15.8 points and 5.7 rebounds per game on 56.2 percent shooting and 34.1 percent from the 3-point line during this year’s summer league.

As far as we can see through the scope of this summer’s games, Wood has built his own destiny. With the odds stacked against him, he went to work in summer league and proved to the Hornets that he was worth pursuing.

He has himself to thank, but he also has Sam Hinkie to thank.

Hinkie, the former president and general manager of the Sixers resigned earlier this season after he was clearly being pushed out by ownership as well as the freshly-hired Jerry Colangelo (who later helped hired his son, Bryan, for the open position).

Hinkie’s model for building a contending team was a rare one. It was never explicitly explained this way by Sam himself, but the clear agenda that came along with the plan was to lose. Build rosters to lose. Get players with low skill-sets and high ceilings and build up assets that will be better later on.

Through that process, many players that might not have gotten shots in the NBA otherwise came through the Sixers’ roster. Guys like Isaiah Canaan, Robert Covington, and perhaps even Jerami Grant. Those guys were all beneficiaries of “the process” that Hinkie put in place.

Wood was also one of those beneficiaries.

Backing up a bit, Wood was expected to be a late first-round draft pick in his draft class. When draft night came around, the late first round passed, and Wood was still on the board. The entire second round — and draft itself — passed and Wood was never selected.

Devastated, Wood left the draft as a free agent. It looked as if he was going to become a D-League player that never really did much in the NBA. But Sam Hinkie made sure that didn’t happen.

Hinkie, a lover of upside and a good deal, saw that Wood still had the tools to be a late first-round pick, and decided to sign him. Unfortunately, he didn’t get the playing time — due to Jahlil Okafor and Nerlens Noel using up most of the frontcourt minutes — to prove himself in the regular season.

But without that foot in the door with the Sixers, he may not have found a summer league team this summer. The Sixers, knowing what Wood could do, especially in summer league, decided to bring him onto the roster as an unrestricted free agent and give him a chance to showcase himself, not just for Philly, but for many other teams looking for a big man.

If it wasn’t for that first season with Philly, where Sam Hinkie brought him on despite the questions about his body fat and work ethic, Wood probably would be in no position to make it onto an NBA roster. Now he has a contract for next season, and the option for his team to reevaluate him at the end of the season.

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Wood’s career started because of Hinkie. He has Hinkie to thank for his current job, and any job that comes as a result of that.