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USA Today Sports Media Group
USA Today Sports Media Group
Sport
Ben DuBose

NBA world reacts as Rockets sign emerging big man Christian Wood

The Houston Rockets are excited about their three-year, $41-million contract agreement with big man Christian Wood, and with good reason.

An athletic 6-foot-10 big man with a 7-foot-4 wingspan, Wood averaged 13.1 points (56.7% shooting, 38.6% on 3-pointers) and 6.3 rebounds in 21.4 minutes per game in Detroit last season. He is only 25 years old, which gives Houston — one of the NBA’s oldest teams — both a short-term frontcourt upgrade and a key building block for years to come.

Perhaps the best part of all is that Wood might not be done improving. After the Pistons traded starting center Andre Drummond in early February, Wood took advantage of a larger role by averaging 22.3 points (56.2% FG, 41.0% on 3-pointers) and 9.5 rebounds in 34.1 minutes per game over the remaining 15 games of Detroit’s 2019-20 season.

Wood will slot into Houston’s projected starting lineup, which for the moment includes James Harden, Russell Westbrook, P.J. Tucker, Wood, and either Danuel House Jr. or Eric Gordon at small forward.

As such, despite a turbulent offseason headlined by the departure of GM Daryl Morey and head coach Mike D’Antoni along with recent trade requests by Harden and Westbrook, there’s finally reason for at least some optimism in Houston. Here’s a sampling of how Twitter responded to Friday night’s bombshell news, both in Houston and well beyond.

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