Christian Wood stepping up after returning to Lakers’ rotation
LOS ANGELES — By this point in his eight-season NBA career, it’s no secret what Christian Wood provides when he steps on the court.
“That man only care about a bucket,” LeBron James responded with a smile on his face while speaking in front of his locker following Tuesday night’s 132-131 home win against the Toronto Raptors.
James added: “So when he gets in a rhythm and he knows he’s going to play, C-Wood cares about buckets. That’s C-Wood, all right?”
And since being reinserted back into the regular rotation, Wood has provided an abundance of buckets.
There were 14 points on 5-of-10 shooting (2 for 4 from 3-point range) in the victory over the Raptors, the most points he’s scored since the 17 he scored in a Dec. 15 road loss to the San Antonio Spurs.
“He did a good job,” James said of Wood. “He does a good job of also rebounding for us. I just think it’s a rhythm thing for our team. But you ask C-Wood, C-Wood’s all about a bucket.”
Wood, who has averaged 14 points for his career, couldn’t deny his love for scoring.
“I do love my buckets,” he said. “I do love them. Just shooting with confidence.”
But there was a significant stretch during the season when Wood wasn’t getting those buckets because he wasn’t in the rotation.
After being a regular part of the rotation for the first 1½ months of the season, Wood’s role was inconsistent for 3½ weeks throughout December, with Jaxson Hayes mainly playing the backup center role for most of that stretch.
“He told me he was just trying out rotations,” Wood said of his conversations with Coach Darvin Ham during this period. “It’s not like a solidified thing. Just to be ready when my name is called and I was.”
And Wood has delivered since being back in the rotation, averaging 9.4 points (53.5% shooting, 52.6% from behind the arc), 6.0 rebounds, 1.3 assists and one blocked shot over the last seven games (20.3 minutes).
“I know it’s been a lot of noise about rotations and minutes,” Ham said before pausing in light of The Athletic’s recent report that there’s a “deepening disconnect” between Ham and the locker room.
Ham continued: “But at the end of the day, my man is settled into that backup five role. … There’s only so many … only 240 minutes in a game. Unfortunately, someone is going to get left out that can really play and that has helped us. But at the end of the day, you have to tighten things up and have him settle into a consistent role, which he has at the backup five.
“Now he’s settled down and become more and more comfortable with his teammates. He’s understanding the guys that he’s out on the floor with and the rhythm in which they play with and he’s finding his spots and keeping it simple. He’s making quick decisions and keeping it simple. And doing the little things. Just him rebounding, setting good screens, rolling, shooting it when he’s open, not hesitating. They close out on him. he’s driving downhill. He’s not trying to play around with the ball anymore. He’s tightened up his game.”
To Ham, that understanding of teammates is the biggest difference he’s seen from Wood during this stretch compared to earlier in the season.
“Teammates start understanding what you like, where your hotspots are, where you like to go backdoor opposed to come over the top when it’s a dribble handoff,” Ham said. “When you screen and roll, sometimes, there’s a certain side, a certain hand or a certain area you like the ball thrown to. All of that matters. Those are the little nuances of the game that allow you to be in a good rhythm as a five-man unit.”
SUNS AT LAKERS
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Where: Crypto.com Arena
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