Milwaukee Bucks reportedly waive Christian Wood, sign Tim Frazier
By Adam McGee
The Milwaukee Bucks have reportedly moved to shore up their backcourt depth by waiving forward Christian Wood, and signing veteran guard Tim Frazier.
The Milwaukee Bucks are in the midst of a challenging spate of injuries in the backcourt, and reports on Monday morning suggest they’ve moved to bring in some additional support.
According to Chris Haynes of Yahoo! Sports, the Bucks have opted to waive forward Christian Wood in order to sign veteran point guard Tim Frazier.
Milwaukee Bucks will sign guard Tim Frazier and waive forward Christian Wood in aftermath of Malcolm Brogdon foot injury, league sources tell Yahoo Sports.
— Chris Haynes (@ChrisBHaynes) March 18, 2019
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Frazier was recently waived by the New Orleans Pelicans, and spent training camp and much of preseason with the Bucks before losing out to Wood as the final cut heading into the regular season.
Frazier’s familiarity with the Bucks, and solid NBA track record, makes him a strong option for the Bucks to turn to in light of something of an injury crisis across their backcourt spots.
Malcolm Brogdon‘s plantar fascia tear obviously stands as the most significant injury in that department, and the undoubted impetus for acting with this addition, but the fact that George Hill is currently on a minutes restriction as he works his way back, and Sterling Brown and Donte DiVincenzo are also sidelined with wrist and heel problems respectively, left no shortage of reasons for Jon Horst and Co. to add another guard to the roster.
Frazier provides the Bucks with a very steady pair of hands as they battle through those absences, as he’s proved himself to be an efficient and savvy point guards across multiple seasons in the NBA. As I noted when writing about Frazier during the preseason:
"“Frazier has a career average of 8.1 assists per 36 minutes, while he has never finished a season with an assist-to-turnover ratio lower than 2.4. Even better again, Frazier’s assist-to-turnover ratio came in at 3.24 in 2016-17 with the Pelicans, while it improved further to 3.4 in a year of struggles elsewhere in his game with the Wizards last season.”"
Across 47 games with the Pelicans, Frazier matched that level of efficiency in averaging 4.4 assists to 1.3 turnovers in 19.3 minutes per game. In other good news, his latest spell in New Orleans saw his 5.0 points per game arrive on a career-best true shooting mark of 55.2 percent.
The Bucks won’t be planning on leaning too heavily on Frazier, if at all possible, but he is by no means a poor option to have as cover.
As for Wood, cutting ties with the high potential young big man was likely a last resort for the Bucks. Wood has been in a position where there were no real openings for minutes with the Bucks throughout the entirety of the season, yet Milwaukee held on to him, in spite of his contract meaning he was a cost-effective outlet for exploring deals at positions of more pressing need.
The proximity to the playoffs following Brogdon’s injury seems to have acted as the final push they needed to move on. It’s undoubtedly unfortunate for Wood who is a casualty of circumstance, and who otherwise may have remained with the Bucks into next season.
Wood played just 62 minutes across 13 games with the Bucks this season, but he starred for the second consecutive in the G League. The former UNLV Runnin’ Rebel has been the clear star of an otherwise underwhelming season for the Wisconsin Herd, and one of the G League’s most dominant players more generally.
Across 27 games with the Bucks’ Oshkosh affiliate, Wood averaged 29.0 points, 13.9 rebounds, 2.4 assists and 2.1 blocks per game, while shooting 55.3 percent from the field and 26 percent from deep.
Those incredibly gaudy numbers are a clear indication of Wood’s undoubted talent and impressive physical tools, but the Bucks aren’t the first team who clearly weren’t convinced about their ability to translate to the NBA.
Wood’s lack of a reliable three-point shot is particularly significant, as the physical advantage he enjoys inside in the G League is nullified by much stronger opponents in the NBA. As a result, the G League version of Wood and the NBA version of him are likely very different players.
Still only 23, Wood has plenty of time to refine those skills, work on his body, and carve out a niche in the NBA. That prospect certainly intrigued the Bucks enough to sign him, and retain him for most of the season, but with the emergence of D.J. Wilson as a more NBA-ready prospect with some similar skills, and the Bucks’ wider championship ambitions this season, they didn’t have any room to be overly sentimental.
Next. Milwaukee Bucks: 4 burning questions following Malcolm Brogdon’s injury. dark
Wood will likely land elsewhere, and will hopefully get the opportunity he so desperately craves. As for Frazier, the Bucks will hope he can slot right back in and get to helping the Bucks to close out their regular season in impressive fashion.