Boston Celtics: 3 offseason regrets Cs are currently feeling
By Mark Nilon
Boston Celtics offseason regret No. 2) Not making a real run at Christian Wood
Like we did with Jeff Teague, last season we at HH were big on the idea of the Boston Celtics pursuing the, then, 24-year-old big man, Christian Wood.
Citing his skillset on both ends of the floor, age-range, production when given extended play, and, frankly, their need for a talent upgrade upfront as the four biggest reasons for our hope of a Cs pursuit of the center, we saw him as an ideal fit for the roster.
Unlike our opinions on Teague, however, Wood actually proved us right — in fact, he has exceeded our expectations quite a bit.
Signing a reasonably priced three-year, $41 million deal with the Houston Rockets this offseason, the fifth-year baller is finding himself flourishing in his new role serving as a core player in the rotation, posting averages of 23.3 points, 10.7 rebounds, and 1.7 blocks per game on 56 percent shooting from the floor and 39 percent shooting from deep.
Leading his team in both box plus-minus and offensive box plus-minus, Wood seems to be well on his way to receiving the NBA’s Most Improved Player award, while Boston still finds themselves with struggles within their frontcourt.
Now, of course there’ll be those of you who will say “but how could they have signed him with such limited cap space?”
To this, we say, the answer would have been quite simple: sign and trade.
After all, the cash-strapped Rockets managed to do it in such a fashion, so why couldn’t the Cs have done the same?
We preached the idea of Christian Wood being a quality fit for the Boston Celtics throughout last season as well as during the offseason.
Heck, there was even a time where the shamrocks were seen as betting favorites to land the big man.
Seeing what he’s done through the first quarter of the season, if Danny Ainge were to say he feels no regret about not making a stronger push for Wood, he’d be lying.