When the Los Angeles Lakers signed big man Christian Wood during the summer, some were skeptical given his history and reputation. Others were genuinely intrigued or even excited about how he could help the team.
Wood has had a reputation as an offense-only player who is a terrible defender and will not do any of the little things to help his squad. Even worse, there was a narrative he had an inflated sense of his ability and importance on the court.
So far this season, his attitude has seemed to be good. However, he isn’t producing the way fans hoped. He’s averaging just 6.5 points in 20.6 minutes a game while shooting 42.7% from the field and 30.6% from 3-point range. The 6-foot-9 28-year-old has scored in double digits just four times in 14 contests.
But a deeper dive into the numbers seems to tell a different story.
Wood may be quietly helping the Lakers
According to NBA.com, when Wood has been on the court for Los Angeles this season, it has had an offensive rating of 109.5, which honestly isn’t good. However, its defensive rating with him on the court has been 101.9, which is outstanding and easily outpaces all of his teammates, except for guard Gabe Vincent, who has played in only four games, and rookie Maxwell Lewis, who has played a total of 21 minutes.
That has given Wood a net rating of 7.6 when he has been on the floor. Believe it or not, that leads everyone on the Lakers.
When Wood has been on the bench, their offensive rating has remained nearly the same at 109.0. However, their defensive rating has fallen to 117.6, which is the worst on the team when a player has been off the court. Wood’s net rating of -8.6 when he has been off the floor is the second-worst on the Lakers behind only LeBron James.
According to Cleaning The Glass, Wood has an efficiency differential (team points scored minus team points allowed per 100 possessions) of plus-15.5 when he has been in the game versus on the bench. In addition, he ranks in the 99th percentile in net points per possession and effective field goal percentage allowed defensively.
Net rating, like all advanced stats, isn’t the end-all-be-all of evaluating a player’s impact. But it appears to say something about how Wood is affecting the Lakers on the defensive end despite his reputation.
