Apparently, the Los Angeles Lakers wanted to maintain balance in the roster during the offseason. That was their primary goal, and they successfully did it. First of all, the LA side kept their core together from the last season. However, there have been suspicions about new recruit Christian Wood and his not-so-successful stint with the Dallas Mavericks. Many experts criticized his attitude and said that’s his main problem.
Perhaps that’s the reason why Wood never really settled anywhere since his NBA debut in 2015. his journey started with the Philadelphia 76ers, then went on to Delaware, Charlotte, Milwaukee, Houston, New Orleans, and so on. Lastly, Christian played for the Dallas Mavericks in the previous season. There is no team where he played for more than two years. Now, why is that? The Lakers coach doesn’t give any importance to the rumors.
Darvin Ham Could Not Care Less About The Troublesome Narrative On Wood
Wood’s last season average was 16 points and seven rebounds. This average is pretty good, but then why the Mavericks didn’t retain him? No matter what, the Lakers Head Coach gave him a clean slate. Darvin Ham recently told Andscape’s Marc J. Spears that he doesn’t want to know what went wrong for Wood with the Mavericks. It is because Ham feels he knows that 28-year-old kid and is confident about what he can bring to the table for the Lakers.
Darvin Ham even believes that some people might say he’s lazy or doesn’t play defense. But Wood has done everything he asked him to do since he joined the LA side. Hence, the Lakers coach prefers to build a relationship after talking directly to the person rather than giving value to other people’s opinions. Since Ham knows what Wood is capable of doing, it’s up to him to get the best out of Wood. Moreover, when Marc J. Spears asked Christian Wood about his stint with the Mavericks, he opted not to say anything about the Mavs. However, he did mention that a time would come when he would talk about it.
Why The Lakers Need A Player Like Christian Wood?
Albeit, the 2022-23 season didn’t quite end in the way the 17-time champions would have liked. But there was absolutely no doubt that the new core group of players helped Darvin Ham’s side to reach the Western Conference Finals. Moreover, they turned things around miraculously in the previous season. Otherwise, the Lakers were in no position to make the postseason. Hence, keeping the core together was essential. Moreover, there was one more thing that the Lakers needed to make sure to raise their chances of winning the title next season.
Darvin Ham’s side required a key player who could take some workload off Anthony Davis in the center. Everybody knows how valuable AD is to the Lakers roster. But his health is always a big concern. Hence, the Laker’s front office needed to ensure the availability of a critical big center that could take some load off AD. Moreover, then the eight-time All-Star can go on to play more than 65 games at least. However, it took a lot of time for Rob Pelinka to confirm the signing of such a big center. Finally, though, they signed Christian Wood.