Christian Wood
It’s clear now that the Philadelphia 76ers made a mistake in not being patient with Christian Wood‘s develop. Wood was one of the many casualties of Philly’s rebuild deemed “The Process”. While he only played in 17 games with the Sixers, he did play in two non-consecutive seasons with the Sixers G-League affiliate named the Delaware 87ers at the time.
In those two G-League seasons, he showed tremendous growth as a player. He eventually would break out in the NBA playing for the New Orleans Pelicans last season. This offseason, he won a roster spot over former NBA star Joe Johnson with the Detroit Pistons. The move payed off for Detroit.
This season, he’s averaging 10.1 points and 5.3 rebounds, while converting 36.7 percent of his attempts from downtown. At the age of 24, he could be a part of the Pistons’ future, if they can afford him this summer.
As Keith Smith of CelticsBlog tweeted, he may cost the Pistons too much to retain in free agency. Smith suggested that Detroit might be able trade him for future assets. Below is a hypothetical trade that can do that for the Pistons.
Bolden isn’t the big piece in this trade, it’s the Atlanta Hawks 2020 second round pick. There’s no doubt Bolden’s a young prospect that the Pistons can develop. However, considering that the Hawks second round pick will most likely be a top one in the second round of this upcoming draft, based on current standings, it’s more valuable than Bolden is right now.
That pick alone should get Wood back in a Sixers uniform. If that were to happen, then there’s a good chance that Wood could take over Scott’s role as primary backup power forward coming off the bench.