Houston Rockets: Why Christian Wood should be in the MVP conversation

Houston Rockets: How Christian Wood’s stats stack up

The traditional box score stats say that Christian Wood is an All-Star, but do they scream MVP? Let’s take a look at Wood’s traditional statistics and their per 36-minute counterpart to see how he’s doing.

                          PTS     REB    BLK    AST    STL

Per Game:      22      10.2    1.5      1.3     0.9

Per 36 Min:   25.4   11.8    1.8     1.5     1.1

The biggest impediment to Wood’s MVP campaign has been the Rockets’ inability to play him enough minutes each and every night. If Wood were playing 36 minutes a night he’d be the toast of the NBA and be one of four players to average over 25 points and 10 rebounds a game along with Nikola Jokic, Joel Embiid, and Giannis Antetokounmpo.

If your numbers have you in the same conversation as two of the current MVP favorites and the two-time reigning MVP then you probably deserve to be in the conversation for MVP as well. Wood isn’t just posting these numbers by virtue of raw volume, he has been the most efficient shooter of the four this season.

                   2PT%       3PT%      eFG%      FGA

Embiid:     57.3%      40%       57.7%     17.3

Jokic:         61.1%      38.1%   60.3%     18.2

Giannis:   64.1%      28.2%   59.3%     18.3

Wood:      61.3%      42.1%   61.8%     15.7

When it comes to putting the ball in the bucket, Wood has been elite this season and the Rockets would be wise to get him a few more touches a game. If the Rockets had the record of the Philadelphia 76ers (18-10) or even the Denver Nuggets (15-11) Wood’s name would have to be firmly in the MVP conversation.

The biggest obstacle to Wood’s MVP candidacy has been his own team. Whether it’s the win-loss record or the number of minutes and touches, the Rockets have done just about everything in their power to obscure their best player’s talents.

Next: Is Christian Wood's MVP claim real?