Detroit Pistons: It’s time to unleash Christian Wood
By Bob Heyrman
The preseason Detroit Pistons’ darling Christian Wood is close to becoming the teams’ best option at center.
It was an eventful Friday afternoon for Detroit Pistons fans. Andre Drummond is the Matthew Stafford of the hardwood in this city. You either love him or hate him, and there is ultimately no middle ground.
The Andre Drummond era in Detroit is coming to a close. Pistons’ owner Tom Gores resides in Los Angeles, as you would expect he was in attendance when Detroit squared up with the L.A. Clippers Thursday evening in L.A.
It was after another Detroit loss that Tom Gores addressed the media and said he’d embrace a rebuild if that’s what it would take for Detroit to get things right again. Gores is an owner that’s clearly willing to spend money, hence, adding Blake Griffin‘s outrageous salary. Sure he produced a career season just a year ago, but the injury bug has once again forced Griffin to perform as an average forward at best.
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Detroit should seriously entertain the thought of shutting Blake down until he’s once again completely healthy. An organizational fire sale as the trade deadline approaches would certainly further prompt the idea.
With Andre Drummond having his bags packed and prepared to search real estate sites in a couple of cities, the Christian Wood experience is set to explode in Detroit. Sure, Dwane Casey will likely start Thon Maker, but Christian Wood will be the one who excels in Andre’s absence.
Wood isn’t nearly as active on the boards as Andre, but he provides a couple of things Andre doesn’t. Wood is a much better shooter, and he has the ability to knock down a three when it’s open. Wood is much more athletic, and he will give you full effort while on the floor, something Andre lacks at times.
Detroit will surely give up a few boards here and there, but Wood does things Andre can’t do. Christian Wood is 39% successful from three; he’s shooting a stellar 61% from the field while averaging 5 boards and 9.5 points in just 16-minutes of work/game.
It’s not always fair to take a player’s numbers and give you the averages if he were playing 36 minutes/night, but they do tell us something in this case. Wood’s 36-minute average works out to 21 PPG, 11.1 boards, 1.4 assists, and 1.6 blocks per game. Perhaps Dwane Casey needs to play the man more? He’s also a plus 2.1 on the season.
Just to compare, Andre Drummond is averaging 17.6 PPG, 15.8 boards. He’s shooting 54% from the field and hasn’t hit a three-point shot all season. The one thing that really stands out is the rebounds. He’s a monster on the boards, but how many of those rebounds are after one of his own misses? Seriously.
Not knocking him, just wish I could find that stat, it may be skewed some if we were to see that number. For what it’s worth, Andre is a minus -2.8 on the floor this season.
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It’s time we, like owner Tom Gores, embrace a much-needed rebuild. Expect to see plenty of Christian Wood down the stretch.