Center looking like the right combination

New general manager Stone targeted Wood for his multitalented skill set for NBA big man

With the Rockets’ sign-andtrade deal for Christian Wood complete, Rafael Stone had secured his first free agent as general manager.

Others will come. Some had agreed to deals before the signand-trade with the Pistons had been made official, including the undrafted free agents collected after the draft. But when the NBA approved the Rockets’ trade and Wood was official, he was Stone’s first.

That was fitting. Wood had been the Rockets’ top priority, the center they had targeted after his breakthrough season for a mix of skills they believe can mesh with what they have and the size they did not.

“His skills, his talent — I think he’s just a very talented basketball player that can do things at his size that very few people can,” said Stone, limiting his comments to the transaction completed and announced Tuesday. “He can stretch (defenses.) He can attack off the dribble. He can make a play for others. And he can finish at the rim. That’s a unique combo.”

Asked howthose skills fit with the Rockets’ roster, Stone said, “I hope, perfectly.”

Without addressing anyone currently on the roster or to be added in the other offseason moves, Wood’s mix of range shooting should work well for the spacing Russell Westbrook especially needs and the pick-and-roll rimthreat JamesHarden in particular exploits.

“He can pop and he can pickand-roll,” Stone said. “That’s whatmakes himunique. Very few guys can do that.”

The future of the Rockets’ star backcourt will return to front and center when NBA training camps open next week. The addition of DeMarcus Cousins to further bolster the Rockets inside could be complete any day, along with the official signings of the Sterling Brown and other wings added in free agency.

But the move to land Wood as part of an expansion of lastweek’s predraft trade addressed the center void the Rockets had since the move to play a center-free, smallball style last season without sacrificing the spacing that motivated it.

Just one season removed from the G League with the Milwaukee Bucks’ affiliate — where he was second in scoring, averaging 29.3 points, and third in rebounding, averaging 14.3 boards — Wood averaged 13.1 points and 6.3 rebounds with the Pistons last season. In his final 22 games of the season, Wood averaged 19.7 points on 56 percent shooting and 40.3 percent 3-point shooting along with 8.1 rebounds.

That made Wood, 25, among the league’s most coveted big men and with a three-year, $41 million contract, the highest-paid center signed this offseason (until forward/center Anthony Davis chooses his max deal with the Lakers.)

The Rockets did it by maneuvering theirway under the luxury tax to have the full mid-level exception starting at $9.3 million, the starting salary many of the centers landed, and then reworking their deal with the Pistons to offer more in a sign-and-trade.

In addition to the 6-10, 233pound Wood, the Rockets will receive a first-round pick from the Pistons and the Lakers’ second-round pick next season. They sent Trevor Ariza (who was since traded to the Thunder,) the Trail Blazers’ first-round pick last week, a future Rockets second-round pick and cash to Detroit.

The Pistons took center Isaiah Stewart with the Blazers’ pick. The Rockets sent the Lakers’ pick acquired from the Pistons to the Kings for the pick used on Kenyon Martin Jr. in the draft last week.

The protections on the Pistons’ first-round pick the Rockets will receive were adjusted when Wood was added to the deal. It is now protected through the top 16 picks in the next two drafts. If not conveyed by then, it is protected through 18 picks for two seasons, top 13 in 2025, top 11 in 2026 and top nine in 2027. If the Rockets still have not received the Pistons’ first-round pick by 2027, it would become a second-round pick in 2027.

The protections would pay off for theRockets if the Pistons eventually improve enough to be a playoff team, but not too rapidly.

The best-case scenario for the Rockets with the pick is to have the Pistons remain a lottery team falling well short of the playoffs for two more seasons and then do no better than to slip into the postseason for the following two seasons. After that, if the Pistons improve enough to even compete for a playoff spot, the Rockets would receive a mid-first-round pick or better.

The structure of the trade protection could make the pick increasingly useful in trades, depending on how quickly the Pistons improve. But the Rockets’ interest was with the player they brought in, rather than the sweetener in the deal.

That includes the hope that Wood will fit style and needs enough to make Stone’s first free agent addition memorable.