Christian Wood says the plan is for him to play a “big role” with the Lakers
Darvin Hamm coached Christian Wood with the Milwaukee Bucks, and helped recruit him to the Lakers by telling him he would be an important contributor.
As things stand now, it looks like the Lakers are planning to bring new signing Christian Wood off the bench to start the season, but that doesn’t necessarily mean he isn’t expected to be an important factor in the rotation.
And in his first lengthy comments since agreeing to terms with the Lakers on Tuesday, Wood said the same Tell Mark J Spears Andscape That Lakers coach Darvin Hamm — who was an assistant coach with the Milwaukee Bucks when Wood spent time there in the 2018-19 season — has already told him he’s going to “play big” for the team this year:
“I’ve always wanted to be a Laker player. I know we can win the championship. Communication with the coach is a big key. Coach Hamm and I go back to our days in Milwaukee, and we had great conversations every day about this opportunity. He believes in me and told me I’d play a role.” He’s great and knows what I can do. I’m looking forward to this and motivating Vasseur after what he did in Dallas.
Before anyone freaks out too much, this letter doesn’t necessarily contradict any plans to sack Wood from the bench, or necessarily indicate any discrepancy in how Wood thinks his role will be versus how he is viewed by the team. Jovan Poha the athlete He wrote that Wood “should spend an average of about 20 minutes per game when everyone else is healthy.” For context, Thomas Bryant averaged 21.4 minutes per game for the Lakers prior to his trade last year as the model most similar on that list to how the Lakers plan to use Wood as a backup center.
Will this still be a “big role” for Wood, who played 25.9 minutes per game in Dallas last season amid mixed opinions from the coaching staff about his role, and who played more than 30 minutes per game in the previous two seasons? It remains to be seen, but if the Lakers actually plan to play consistent minutes with him alongside Davis on occasion – for context, Davis has played fewer minutes (13) alongside Bryant than he did with Matt Ryan (50) – there’s a way for Wood to play minutes in the middle twenties.
Will that be enough? Will he gain more from his game? We won’t know the answers to these questions until the season begins, but who Wood plays alongside – and how often he does – will certainly be two interesting stories to watch early on when the season does.
You can follow Harrison on Twitter at @hmfaigen.
Read more
