The Los Angeles Lakers will be hitting training camp soon and the talk around the organization has been the recent addition of Christian Wood.
Wood spent most of the offseason waiting for a long-term deal, but when that didn’t materialize he ended up committing to the Lakers on a two-year deal with a player option in the second year.
The big man has hopped around several different teams throughout his career but now has an opportunity to prove that he can contribute to a roster that has championship aspirations. Wood’s already got the confidence and support of Darvin Ham, who recruited him every day in free agency, so it stands to reason that he’ll have a role in the rotation off the bat.
There has already been talk that Ham will use Wood alongside Anthony Davis and the former believes their pairing will be productive, via Spectrum SportsNet:
“Whatever works. Whatever teams needs, I’m here to do. I think me and him together will be a crazy pairing. I mentioned a bunch of times before Anthony Davis has been my favorite player to watch. He’s always been my favorite player to watch. A guy I’ve studied and know his game, I think we have a lot of similarities so I think it’ll be great.”
Wood and Davis had a brief stint together on the New Orleans Pelicans, so there’s already a little chemistry there to build off of. As a a stretch big, Wood can capable space the floor offensively while defensively Davis can cover for him as a rim-protector and shot blocker.
The defensive portion is perhaps the biggest key to making the combination work as that’s been the biggest knock on his game. However, with the Lakers, Wood won’t be asked to be the anchor of the defense and he’ll be allowed to play in more schemes that are tailored to his strengths.
Whether Wood starts or not is one thing to look out for in training camp and preseason and it’ll be interesting to see how he and Davis look together.
Jeanie Buss believes Anthony Davis was arguably best player in NBA last season
When LeBron James went down to a foot injury, Davis was able to step up and lead Los Angeles on both ends of the floor. Jeanie Buss was happy to see Davis playing so well and believes he was one of the best players in the NBA when he was healthy.
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