Christian Wood Called Shaq A "Casual" Right To His Face On National Television
The Houston Rockets have had a rough last couple days. It's always tough when the franchise player takes a look around and publicly says all his teammates are trash and it'll never get fixed so he needs to be traded immediately. That usually makes things a little awkward. But you know what? Last time I checked the new look Rockets are undefeated in this new era without James Harden. Not only that, but this is now Christian Wood's team which might not be the worst thing in the world. It wasn't just his 27/15 tonight with 5 3PM and 3 blocks tonight
Christian Wood has been fairly dominant since the season first started. His 23/9 on 52% shooting this season has to have him among the leaders for Most Improved Player, and you could argue that his $13M salary is one of the best bargains in the entire league. My point is, what Christian Wood did tonight is nothing new to those who pay attention. He's been playing like this for some time now, so Shaq should be somewhat familiar. That's what made Wood's response so great. Love seeing him call out Shaq for being a casual. Sadly, I regret to inform Wood that he just made an enemy for life. Shaq is the most petty former great we have in the NBA. He hates Dwight Howard for a nickname and can't stop making fun of Rudy Gobert just because he got paid. You think he's just going to let Christian Wood slide after pulling that on national TV? No chance. You know there will be a salty IG post coming at some point.
But.....he's right. If you don't know what Christian Wood is doing this season or you aren't familiar with his game, you're a casual. His words, not mine. This caliber of play started pretty much as soon as Andre Drummond was traded from the Pistons last year which is what made their decision to not keep Wood but pay about 16 different centers instead so bizarre. Now you know why they have the worst record in the NBA. He's pretty much your ideal big for the NBA in 2020. He can stretch the floor, rebound, protect the rim, has handles, it's wild so many teams gave up on him. If you listen to his full postgame interview and hear him talk about how he was tired of getting cut, it's impossible to not root for the guy.
Meanwhile, Wood is out here putting up All Star caliber production on a nightly basis. If you didn't know before, well now you know