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From rags to riches: The life story of Christian Wood

  • Post Author
    by Sports director
  • Post Date
    Wed Mar 03 2021

Author: Ishaan Chadha

MADISON- Throughout my life, sports have always provided me an escape from reality. Whether it was getting shots up with my dad in the driveway or watching the Bulls on a Friday night, the athletes always gave me extra motivation to be the best version of myself. My favorite players, along with my parents, have shown me that facing adversity and failure are the key ingredients to a successful life. Even though these athletes may seem untouchable, they're still human, and they go through the same triumphs and tribulations as we do. Out of all of the young players in the league right now, Christian Wood's come-up story exemplifies how much effort it takes to get what you desire in life. Coming out of UNLV, he went undrafted in 2015, and for the next four years, he was a journeyman playing for five different NBA teams. But now, Christian Wood has found a home in Houston, and he is exceeding expectations.

While he did show signs of potential in previous seasons, this is his first time where he's played a crucial role in the offense since training camp, and clearly, he's capable of being the face of a franchise. After a successful sophomore season at UNLV, where he averaged 15.7 points per game and ten rebounds per game, he was projected to be a first-round pick, and some mock drafts had him going in the late first round. Nobody expected him to go undrafted, but sometimes, life throws you a curveball that you never see coming. Even though at the moment, a guy like him going undrafted seemed insane, there was more to the story that many people didn't know about.

According to his former coaches at UNLV, there were many times where Wood showed up late to meetings and workouts acted very immaturely, and it seemed like he just didn't have the mentality or commitment to be an NBA player. Even during workouts, he quickly developed a reputation for being lethargic and uninterested. Still, he could get away with this because he was an exceptional talent by making all first team in his conference during his sophomore year. Despite all of his accomplishment, every team was scared to take a chance on a guy that lacked the motivation to be great. However, Christian and his agent still believed he would get picked in the first round, even the projections up until a few days before the draft said he would be a late first-rounder.

This mindset, of course, led to one of the saddest photos in draft night history. And to top it all of, his girlfriend called it quits after believing that he was a failure with no direction for the next 5-10 years. For the first time in his life, Christian's talent wasn't going to beat out the competition, and he had to start working hard even to get a roster spot. So he worked his tail off, and the 76ers signed him to his first contract in late 2015. He would bounce around multiple teams and multiple G-League teams signing 10-day contracts and getting very few minutes even when he was active.

In his first four seasons, he played a combined 51 games at just 10 minutes per game. One of the main reasons why Wood was getting passed around like the unwanted veggie platter at a Superbowl party was his lack of muscle. As a rookie, he was listed at 6 foot 10, 214 pounds, and he would just get abused defensively as bigs would just power through him as soon as they entered the paint. Even though he could stretch the floor, he couldn't score or finish in the paint as he had trouble posting anybody up. As a result, teams didn't know what to do with him, and getting rid of him was the quickest and easiest way to solve that problem. However, everything changed when he arrived in New Orleans in April of 2019 after he was picked up during the Anthony Davis trade drama. Finally, he received an opportunity to play significant minutes, and he didn't disappoint.

During his eight games in New Orleans, Wood averaged 16.9 points and 7.9 rebounds while shooting an efficient 53% from the field. Then, during the beginning of the 2019-2020 season, the Pistons picked him up after Blake Griffin went down. In Detroit, we indeed saw what he could do with an extended amount of playing time. After Drummond got traded in February, he shot Christian a text saying that it was his time. Once Drummond was gone, Christian played at a borderline All-Star level by averaging 22.3 points and 9.5 rebounds in 34.1 minutes per game, shooting 56% from the field and 41% from the 3-point range. But since this is the story of a man who failed time and time again, something terrible happened.

About a month later, he got COVID-19, and the season was suspended when he was playing the best basketball of his life. When Christian had the virus, he said that there were moments he felt like he couldn't breathe. Despite the suffering, he recovered now, and Wood is having the most incredible season of his career. He's putting up All-Star caliber numbers and continuing where he left off, but most importantly, he's proving to the world that he can keep up this level of play for an extended period. Previously we only saw flashes of what he can, but now there's no question that he's an All-Star talent and one of the front-runners to win most improved player.

Instead of living paycheck to paycheck, Christian inked a three-year 41 million dollar deal with the Houston Rockets. He's playing well above the contract, and this contract has a profound symbolic meaning to it. Throughout his first 4-5 years in the league, he was constantly on the move, and he never had any financial security to support him and his family. But now, he finally has a home, and for the first time since college, he has the keys to the offense, and the sky is truly the limit for this young man.

TAGS

ANDRE DRUMMOND ANTHONY DAVIS BLAKE GRIFFIN CHRISTIAN WOOD HOUSTON ROCKETS ISHAAN CHADHA NBA NEW ORLEANS PELICANS UNLV

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