While he was obviously vengeful at the idea of facing the Mavericks, Christian Wood did not shine against his former team. Only one shot taken in 15 minutes, and a narrow defeat against his former teammates. The day before, the former Rockets and Mavericks interior explained that he simply wanted to stay “calm, patient and play his game”. But Wood has struggled to find his role with the Lakers, and a recent article on NBA.com revealed that no other player than him has seen his role decline as much.
“I no longer play the role that I played for the last four or five years, which was that of a player who had the ball a lot, and who took a lot of shots”he recalls. “If the team needs rebounding help, I have to try to help them. And whatever they need from me, I’m here to do it. Some nights they’ll play for me, some nights they won’t. I just have to prepare for it.”
A good night is when you help win a match
During the offseason, Darvin Ham warned him. He expected defense, screens, and not necessarily points from him. He must become a real “role player”.
“If I finish with 5 points, 5 rebounds and a +/- of +15, it’s a very good evening for me” explains Wood. “That would mean I had an impact in the victory. I’m not here anymore to finish with 20 points and 10 rebounds, for 30 points and 20 rebounds, and that type of thing. I still can if given the opportunity. But this year, I’m more here to do the little things to help the teams. »
There LA Times took a look at his stats, and in fact, it works. Even if the +/- remains a statistic to be taken with a pinch of salt, the fact remains that when Wood finishes a match with a +/- of 10 or more, the Lakers have a record of 8 wins for 2 losses.
“It’s the contrast between playing or being productive at a high level for yourself and playing or being productive at a high level for the team.”analyzes Ham. “A lot of guys who aren’t mentally focused on the group instead of being focused on themselves fall into the trap of outside noise. And people compare what they did last year in a given situation versus what they do in a given situation this year. »
Learn to win alongside former NBA champions
For the Lakers coach, some recruits are simply discovering the very high level and the demands of being a candidate for the title. Through contact with LeBron and Davis, or even Ham, Wood will immerse himself in this role.
“We have people in our group who have reached the highest level that you can reach in this league, some of us have done it twice, several times even,” concludes Ham. “Once you surround a person with that, they are able to explore other ways to help a winning situation and not help themselves in the situation and not really care about what’s going on. arrives at the group. The group must feel involved. This group must constantly be concerned about the big picture and how we can, in the short term, achieve the big goal and the big picture. »
