Christian Wood
After being bounced back and forth between the Milwaukee Bucks and the G-League’s Wisonsin Herd, third-year player Christian Wood was waived by Milwaukee and promptly picked up by the New Orleans Pelicans.
In only 6 games with the Pels, Wood has played extraordinarily well off the bench. He has split his time nearly 50/50 between the power forward and center spots while with the Pels, and he has produced some stellar numbers over those six games.
Not to suffer from Doc Rivers’ GM syndrome, but one of his best games came in a loss against the Atlanta Hawks, when he was stuffing down dunks with ease, snuffing out shots around the rim and generally impacting the game in a multitude of ways. He finished with 23 points, 9 rebounds and 6 blocks:
Wood is averaging 15.8 points, 7.3 rebounds, 1.5 blocks, 1.2 steals and 1.0 assists in 21.8 minutes per game with the Pelicans, which is good enough for a supremely high 27.0 player efficiency rating and a career-high 0.6 win shares. Remember, he has done all this damage in only 6 games played!
With a lanky 6-foot-10 frame and a 7-foot-3 wingspan, Wood would be able to slot into a role as rim protector and helpside shot blocker for this Atlanta Hawks team that desperately needs defensive help going forward.