re: Shams: Christian Wood waived

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Wood is now what we hope Jaxson Hayes becomes and anything more than that is icing. I would’ve waived Jahlil instead.

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Wait. You think we took a guy at the 8th overall pick that we hope one day turns into a guy we signed off the street in March?

I’m not gonna back up the posters entire set of assertions, but I would have also preferred keeping Wood over Okafor.

He showed more to me as a modern NBA 4/5 than Okafor has shown. I’d even edge him out over Williams if I’m just talking straight up player prospects. And I don’t dislike Okafor, or Williams. It’s a shitty situation(and also blessed considering we are so loaded with depth that someone has to go)But like Cousins losing weight, I don’t think it is magically going to fix Okafor’s core physical limitations.

As to Wood’s “garbage time” stats. I might be one to believe that if his stats elsewhere last season didn’t line up pretty similarly when accounting for minutes. I know Bucks fans and bloggers were really upset when he got cut because they too saw the potential that was already getting realized. Someone is going to get a player that has a future in this league as a rotational 4/5 that hustles and has developed a 37.5% catch and shoot three point jumper.

And I would have liked to see how that type of big fits next to Zion, as many(most) have said that(and I agree) that it seems like Zion will ultimately be best with a stretch big.

Of course I understand that, but watching the games at the least he has a talent for blocking shots and getting rebounds. Jahlil can only do 1 and at the moment Hayes can only do 1 as well. All I’m saying is he’s the best big we have on the bench and should be on the roster as it stands now above OKAFOR.

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I think Wood is a solid player and will develop very well. I think Okafor is more of a need than wood and regardless Wood is no where as good as the picture this dude is painting. Nor does this move have any major impact on anything for this team

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And see that is where I dislike the move, if anything, with Favors, with Hayes, Okafor is the redundancy. As both those guys are either a better version of him, or the heir apparent that currently has a game similar(but more dynamic and moldable). Whereas Wood provides something different, a floor running, increasingly floor spacing big man that can fit at the 4 and 5.

Yes but here's the catch. Hayes needs time to develop and Okafor can waste that time for him. Wood would not be able to play center aswell as Okafor regardless of what is thought. We have Zion and Melli at PF. Favors at C with Okafor and Hayes getting minutes. If we keep Wood and get rid of Okafor, we would give less playing time to Hayes to develop Wood. We would most likely have to pick 1 of them in a year or 2 anyways. So its easier to have an expendable Okafor and develop Hayes > splitting minutes between Wood and Hayes only to keep 1 of them.

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If all Hayes ever becomes is Christian Wood then this is an all time bust. Are y’all on fricking crack

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We can talk about Hayes without having to negatively exaggerate Wood:

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If Hayes is hitting catch and shoot threes at 37% by his third season, driving the floor and from the arc and finishing, with the defensive versatility he projects to have and rim scoring, we will be talking multiple all stars in his future.

He is being a bit hyperbolic, but Wood has steadily developed into a really solid prospect. And frankly, I would have liked having Wood around as a guy a few years ahead of Hayes that has began successfully developing a lot of the skillsets we want to see Hayes develop at an even higher level(which I think he can).

Last quarter of the season you’ll see mediocre players put up stats. That’s just how it is. Grayson Allen had a 40 point game. The level of competition drops significantly overall. You’ll have teams tanking, like the Pels, and playoff teams doing “load management”. Wood belongs on a roster somewhere, but he’s nothing special. I don’t care what per 36 stats you pull up, his level of competition wasn’t high and he had a lot of volume. This isn’t a big loss.

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Yes but here's the catch. Hayes needs time to develop and Okafor can waste that time for him. Wood would not be able to play center aswell as Okafor regardless of what is thought. We have Zion and Melli at PF. Favors at C with Okafor and Hayes getting minutes. If we keep Wood and get rid of Okafor, we would give less playing time to Hayes to develop Wood. We would most likely have to pick 1 of them in a year or 2 anyways. So its easier to have an expendable Okafor and develop Hayes > splitting minutes between Wood and Hayes only to keep 1 of them

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Okafor was and is not going to see significant minutes barring injury. Hayes as well. Okafor’s a traditional five and we already have that in Favors. Who is going to get the bulk of center minutes. And Zion is going to be getting 5-10 minutes a night at the 5 as well. It’s also the easiest position to fill off the street if Favors did miss significant time.


Wood gives you versatility. A guy that can play next to Zion and stretch the floor or step in for a few minutes at 5 when both Zion and Favors are out and keep the pace going.

Wood allows you to back up two positions and do a lot of different things scheme wise.

If it were my decision I’d keep Wood, but like I said, it’s really not going move the needle a whole lot given the amount of people in front of either.

News flash to this entire thread of people arguing over okafor and wood.
Neither are playoff basketball players. Who gives a shite about either of them. They are bench players at best. They mean absolutely nothing to the grand scheme of things. And I mean all of that with no disrespect to either of them.