Christian Wood will be sixth man at the Mavericks!

Usually, during Media Day, surprises are rare. Between jargon and beautiful declarations that we know by heart, there is not a lot to learn from it. Except that on the Dallas side, coach Jason Kidd dropped a nugget on Monday: newcomer Christian Wood will come off the bench this year.

Transferred to Dallas against Boban Marjanovic, Sterling Brown, Trey Burke, Marquese Chriss and Wendall Moore Jr. last June, Christian Wood represents the “big” rookie of the offseason for the Mavericks. Without necessarily being an All-Star caliber player, the 26-year-old interior still remains around 20 points over two seasons – 10 rebounds with the Rockets post James Harden, enough to give a boost to the Texas racket or so at the… Mavs bench. What? The bench ? No it’s not a joke. During Media Day, Jason Kidd surprised his world a little when he announced that Christian Wood would be “primarily used as a sixth man”. According to Tim MacMahon ofESPN, present on the spot, it is in fact JaVale McGee who will start titu on the post of pivot, as promised when he signed last July. The Dallas five should look like this: Luka Doncic, Spencer Dinwiddie, Reggie Bullock, Dorian Finney-Smith and McGee, with Wood coming off the bench. Important point to emphasize all the same, nothing would be set in stone and the former Rocket could be a starter according to certain match-ups. And then obviously, you shouldn’t expect to see JaVale play 35 minutes a night, it’s clearly Christian who will have the longest playing time between the two and probably among all the insiders who make up the current squad. from Dallas (Maxi Kleber, Dwight Powell).

“I am motivated regardless of my role, whether I start or come off the bench. The most important thing is not who starts the matches, but who finishes them. If someone asks me how I feel about coming off the bench, it’s not something I care too much about. It will probably come back on the table when it comes to my expansion talks at Free Agency, but during the season it won’t impact my game.”

The situation around Christian Wood is particularly interesting not only because he will be making his big debut in his new Dallas jersey, but also because he is entering a final year of contract. And we know that, usually, when a player arrives in the last year of his contract, he wants to have the maximum number of opportunities to show his talents and thus win the maximum number of green tickets. In full force of age and when he receives 14 million a year, one could have imagined that Chris would be reluctant to come out of the bench but obviously it passes cream. And given the good mood with which Wood showed up at Media Day on Monday, these are not empty words. So of course, between the good mood at the end of September and what can happen in January or February, there is sometimes a chasm. We will see how the Christian Wood experience manifests itself on the floor, he who should still have fun alongside a maestro like Luka Doncic. But with the departure of Jalen Brunson to New York, the former interior of the Rockets will also have the heavy responsibility of providing the necessary support to the Slovenian prodigy to allow the Mavericks to remain at least at the level of last year, namely a team with 50 regular wins capable of reaching the Conference Finals. And it doesn’t matter what role it is.

Christian Wood in the joker costume of the second unit, this is the latest invention of Mister Jason Kidd. We ask to see, Chris having started only one game on the bench during his last two seasons in Houston. But given his talent and if he has the right mindset, the inside could well get involved in the race for the best sixth man of the year.

Source texte : Media Day Mavericks, via ESPN

Christian Wood will be primarily a sixth man for the Mavs, Jason Kidd says. “I don’t need him to be ‘The Microwave.’ I just need him to be C. Wood.”

— Tim MacMahon (@espn_macmahon) September 26, 2022