3 teams who could sign Christian Wood away from the Detroit Pistons
Boston Celtics
It was reported by James Edwards III of The Athletic after the trade deadline that (subscription required) both the Boston Celtics and the Houston Rockets had done their due diligence on Wood in a potential trade.
With the Celtics, it makes sense for a few reasons. Most notably, while Wood may not be considered a direct upgrade from Enes Kanter, he’d likely provide more valuable minutes and be able to better preform in high profile games.
Kanter’s impact on the offensive end is currently inferior to Wood’s, and while that’s easy to say considering Enes is playing alongside the likes of Jaylen Brown, Jayson Tatum, and Kemba Walker, what Wood brings to the table could better benefit the Celtics.
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With Kanter’s scoring output coming and going (but again, refer to the previous point) and his usage being even more inconsistent, there’s a chance that Wood could become a more consistent option at center for Boston.
Kanter in years passed has struggled mightily on defense, but has had a pretty decent year for the Celtics. But, he still suffers from significant struggles when defending pick and rolls. Conversely, this is something that Wood has actually grown to be pretty reliable with.
Both have their flaws defensively.
Boston has seen some great progress from Daniel Theis this season on the offensive end, but at the end of the day he can’t be the main option for them moving forward. Some would argue this is also the case with Kanter, as he’s been relegated to a second unit spot.
Could Wood be that guy for them? The possibility is there. Similar to the Warriors, Boston won’t need an All-Star caliber center in order to find success. No, it doesn’t hurt to have one, but they can get by with the right piece.
In today’s NBA a floor spacing big man is generally going to hold more value over a traditional one, and that’s where Wood may hold more value over the Celtics current options.
Adding someone to their frontcourt with as much offensive versatility as Wood has could help their offense soar.
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He would immediately become a dangerous pick and roll/pop threat alongside Tatum, Walker, and Brown. Putting their offensive potential aside for a moment, they could also be a tremendous team defensively with Wood down low.
As is a reoccurring theme with title contending teams, Boston won’t have a ton of cap space this summer. However, if they had genuine interest in acquiring Wood then they’d likely look to move Kanter.
He’d be entering the second year of a two year contract worth $9.7 million. It’s a team friendly deal for what he brings to the table, and could be a nice addition on a fringe playoff team. With it obviously also being an expiring contract, that tends to interest teams as well.
Trading Kanter could alleviate the necessary space needed in order to sign Wood.
With the Celtics showing interest in him once this season, it’s entirely within the realm of possibility to assume they could do it again.