Two nights after Rockets center Christian Wood expressed his belief that he’s deserving of 2021 NBA All-Star votes, the 25-year-old appeared to get a strong endorsement by Houston head coach Stephen Silas.
“Christian Wood is an emerging star, right now,” Silas said before Saturday’s game in New Orleans. “He’s playing at a really high level.”
Wood averages 23.4 points (53.6% FG), 10.8 rebounds, and 1.7 blocks in 33.5 minutes per game. He leads the Rockets, who entered Saturday on a four-game winning streak, in all of those categories.
In Saturday’s interview, Silas elaborated on Wood’s growth, and he says it goes beyond traditional numbers. For instance, Houston entered with one of the NBA’s top-rated defenses over its last eight games, and Silas says Wood has improved significantly there. His comments:
He’s grown a lot since training camp. He’s found where he can be successful on the floor, where it’s at the top of the floor, or he’s finding some areas in the paint where he can shoot his little floater. He has such a soft touch. We’re going to expand that to getting him to the corners, some, and making the decisions harder for his man, and whether he’s going to help. Are they going to help on our drives, or stay home on our shooters? He’s one of those shooters.
But the biggest jump for him, I would say, is on the defensive end. We’ve gotten a little more aggressive with our coverages when he’s in, and he’s done a really good job. The last couple games that he’s played in, he’s done a good job with his pick-and-roll defense on the ball, and then recovering back to his man, or helping somebody else. I would say the biggest jump that he’s made so far, and you don’t really see it in the points and the rebounds, but it’s on the defensive end.
Saturday’s game between the Rockets and Pelicans tipped off at 7:00 p.m. Central, with the game broadcast on AT&T SportsNet Southwest.
This post originally appeared on Rockets Wire. Follow us on Facebook!
