(6/16/22)
Written by John Raley
Last night the Houston Rockets and the Dallas Mavericks agreed on a trade centering around big man Christian Wood. The Rockets will be shipping Wood over to Dallas in exchange for the 26th pick in the upcoming draft, Boban Marjanovic, Trey Burke, Marquese Chriss, and Sterling Brown. The players Dallas has sent over were sent in order to make the salary cap for each team work and I do not expect most of these guys to play for the Rockets this upcoming season. Dallas in turn gets a big with undeniable offensive ability to pair with an already loaded backcourt of Luka Doncic, Jalen Brunson, and Spencer Dinwiddie.
What this means for Houston:
This is the Rockets way of saying “this is Jalen Green’s team” and I love that. I think it shows a real belief in him especially after his stellar second half to the season where he averaged 19.9 points with 3 assists and 3 rebounds per game. I expect to see his usage numbers increase as a direct result of this trade in the upcoming season. I also expect Kevin Porter Jr. and Alperen Sengun to have improved numbers this year due to being able to have the ball in their hands more as well as another year of development under their belt.
While this trade does present some positives for the young core that Houston has begun to put together, it places Sengun as the starting center for the Rockets as of right now. Now I’m very high on Sengun. I think he is a lost breed of centers that we really don’t see anymore with his post footwork and finesse down low. However he is lackluster on defense due to his below average athleticism when compared to most of the starting centers right now. Having him as the number one rebounder and rim protector for Houston will be a problem other teams will take advantage of similarly to how they did this past year. Christian Wood was far from an elite defender, I would classify him as a below average defender, but he had size and length which is something that this Houston roster is lacking severely.
Now the Rockets are in possession of three first round draft picks (3,17,26) so I think it is likely that they will package 17 and 26 in order to move up in the first round. If they do that I would like to see them take a true center who can rebound and protect the basket. I love what Robert Williams has done for the Celtics this season as their enforcer on defense and I think Houston would greatly benefit from trying to get a guy like that. Two names that come to mind immediately for me are Mark Williams from Duke and Kofi Cockburn from Illinois. Both of those guys are huge with great athleticism and they have both proven to be effective at rebounding and deterring drives from the opposing team. They would also not require the ball in their hands much offensively which would allow some of the young guards Houston has right now to further develop at a faster pace than they would have if Wood remained on the team.
Trade Grade: B-
What this means for Dallas:
On paper going into next season, Dallas may have arguably the most dangerous offense in all of basketball. Their projected starting lineup after this trade is Luka Doncic, Jalen Brunson, Spencer Dinwiddie, Christian Wood, and Dwight Powell. Now they may also get scored on more than anyone in the league with Luka and Christian Wood starting but they will be impossible to guard.
This trade is a drastic upgrade for Dallas at the four spot from what they had this past year and I mean no disrespect to Maxi Kleber or Dorian Finney-Smith. I think both of them are above average defenders who spread the floor on offense and are great role players, but Christian Wood has one of the most impressive offensive packages of any big man in the league in my opinion. Check out his performance from this past March against the Wizards where he dropped 39 points going 8/9 from three point range here. The pick and roll game between him and Luka Doncic will be insane to watch and a nightmare for other teams to defend, and in an era where the pick and roll is the most commonly run play in basketball having that 1-2 punch will already make the Mavericks a better team than they were this past year.
This trade for Dallas has the potential to be something that we look at 2 years from now and say, “that was when they really made the jump from good to great”. Now for Dallas they have to be looking at some possible free agents to beef up their identity defensively. Montrezl Harrell is currently a free agent and he’s a guy with a reputation for being tough on the interior. For their perimeter they could also try and sign Collin Sexton who will have a lower price tag after coming off of an injury that cost him his season. Dallas wildly exceeded expectations this year. They beat the team with the best record in the league on their own court in a game 7 by 33 points to advance to the Finals as a four seed. The way that they played in the postseason paired with the timing of this trade tells me that Dallas is in “win now” mode where they are going to be taking their shots at the title which I think they should. The 26th pick in this year's draft will more than likely not be a guy who impacts a team's chances of winning a championship right away and Dallas is looking for guys who will have immediate impact. I think Dallas fans should be thrilled with this trade and extremely excited for this upcoming season.
Trade Grade: A