Christian Wood’s ‘Main Objective’: Get Mavs to NBA Finals

Christian Wood is happy to be on the Dallas Mavericks, and he has big goals for the 2022-23 season.

Dalton Trigg | Aug 4, 2022

When the Dallas Mavericks traded for Christian Wood a week before the NBA Draft, it was obvious how much of an upgrade they were getting at the center position.

Last season with the Houston Rockets, Wood averaged 17.9 points, 10.1 rebounds and 2.3 assists per game while shooting 50.1 percent from the field, including 36 percent from deep. That kind of production, paired with the fact that he’s a versatile pick-and-roll/pick-and-pop player, has to have Luka Doncic licking his chops heading into the 2022-23 season.

On Thursday, Wood surprised a group of excited children by showing up to the Mavs Academy Hoop Camp. In his first on-camera interview since the trade, Wood expressed how happy he is to be in Dallas and what his goals are for the upcoming season.

"Happy to be here," said Wood. "It's a great opportunity for me, for this organization. Just trying to take that next step. I just want to win games. My main objective is trying to get to the finals."

The Mavs got within three wins of reaching the NBA Finals last season, but they weren't able to overcome the eventual champion Golden State Warriors in the Western Conference Finals. One of Dallas' biggest weaknesses in last season's playoff run was the production from the starting center position, and that weakness has been addressed with the additions of Wood and JaVale McGee.

Whether those additions are enough to make up for the loss of Jalen Brunson to the New York Knicks in free agency has yet to be seen ... and the Mavs could still make some moves in the coming months to address their playmaking needs. However, Wood is confident that his arrival can take the Mavs to the next level. For now, though, he'll continue to familiarize himself with Dallas before the real action gets underway in training camp next month.

"Love the city. (It's) a little bit calmer than Houston, thank God," said Wood. "Had to try a few food spots out here. The food is great. So I'm still working my way around."

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Published Aug 4, 2022

DALTON TRIGG

Dalton Trigg is the Editor-In-Chief for Dallas Basketball, as well as the Executive Editor overseeing Inside The Rockets, Inside The Spurs, All Knicks, and The Magic Insider. He is the founder and host for the Mavs Step Back Podcast, which is a proud part of the Blue Wire podcast network. Trigg graduated from the University of Southern Mississippi’s College of Business and Economic Development with a bachelor’s degree in entrepreneurship in 2016. After spending a few years with multiple Dallas Mavericks-related blogs, including SB Nation’s Mavs Moneyball, Trigg joined DallasBasketball.com as a staff writer in 2018 and never looked back. At the start of 2022, he was promoted to the EIC title he holds now. Through the years, Trigg has conducted a handful of high-profile one-on-one interviews to add to his resume — in both writing and podcasting. Some of his biggest interviews have been with Mavs owner Mark Cuban, Mavs GM Nico Harrison, now-retired legend Dirk Nowitzki and many other current/former players and team staffers. Many of those interviews and other articles by Trigg have been aggregated by other well-known sports media websites, such as Yahoo Sports, CBS Sports, Bleacher Report and others. You can find Trigg on all major social media channels, but his most prevalent platform is on Twitter. Whether it’s posting links to his DBcom work, live-tweeting Mavs games or merely giving his opinions on things going on with Dallas and the rest of the NBA, the daily content never stops rolling. For any inquiries, please email Dalton@MavsStepBack.com.