Three Positives and three negatives from the Houston Rockets’ first six games

Houston Rockets positive #1: Christian Wood

Christian Wood has been as good as advertised and hasn’t even kicked into high gear yet. Through five games he’s averaging 23.6 points and 10 rebounds per game on 55.3-percent shooting.

The only negative has been that he has been uncharacteristically poor from 3-point range with a 27.3-percent mark to start the season. Wood is a career 35.8-percent 3-point shooter which gives him a chance to average 25 points per game if he can get close to that mark this season.

The Rockets signed Wood to a three-year $41 million contract and it already looks to be the best piece of business by any team this offseason. Wood is 25 years old and he was signed for $20 million less than what Danilo Gallinari received from the Atlanta Hawks.

Snagging an in their prime All-Star caliber player for an average of $13.7 million a season is the definition of a steal. Even if the Rockets trade James Harden, they have a franchise cornerstone to build around for the next few seasons that could make their rebuild more of a remodel and less of a complete teardown.

Going into the season there was concern about Wood’s defense but so far he has been the least of the Rockets’ concerns. He is posting a career-best block-percentage and his defensive rating of 109 is a slight improvement from where he was last season.

The Rockets have their center of the future and he’s proving to be one of the best offensive centers in the league while proving to be adequate on the defensive end. No matter how the season unfolds the franchise has to be ecstatic about what they’re getting out of Wood.

Next: Negative #1