When the 2014 NBA draft rolled around, there was so much hype for this draft class. Some even put it as “the best draft class we’ll see in years". It sure blew the 2013 draft class out of the water in every aspect. When the draft came, there were a lot of locks or, something that we knew was going to happen. We knew that Andrew Wiggins and Jabari Parker were going numbers 1 and 2, respectively. We knew that Dante Exum wasn’t going to slide out of the top 7, and lastly, we knew Rodney Hood wasn’t going past the Phoenix Suns with the number 18 pick. And man was almost everybody wrong on that. And to make matters worse, he fell even further when 3 wings got drafted. After the Nuggets took Gary Harris with the 19th pick, the Raptors took Bruno Caboclo with the 20th, and the Grizzlies took Jordan Adams with the 22nd pick. Finally, the Utah Jazz took Rodney Hood. To many, this was considered the steal of the draft, and now, that holds even more true as Hood is developing into a playmaking and shooting wing.
Rodney Hood is a 6’8” 215 pound wing who primarily plays shooting guard and sometimes small forward. On the offensive end Hood is wise beyond his years, he makes the right decisions on the pick and roll, and has a sweet jumper. On the defensive end he struggles, but gives a tremendous effort. Sometimes he lacks on lateral quickness for on ball defense, but understands the right positioning that helps the overall team defense. But, in here, I will exclusively talk about Hood’s offensive game and how it has developed into one of the best offensive games in the league.
Hood’s season is literally a tale of two halves. In the first half of the season, he struggled with first, getting minutes, then, with injuries. Hood had plantar fasciitis for most of the first half of the season, also he got sick with an upset stomach a lot. With only playing 24 games out of 54, he could hardly show us his game, and some of those games he left, so in his case, you almost have to throw it out. But, for the sake of showing his improvement over one season we will use it. Pre All-Star break Rodney Hood averaged 18 minutes per game, 5.3 points per game, 2.5 rebounds, and 1.2 assists. He shot a horrid 31% from the field, 28.6% from the 3 point line, and 70.3% from the free throw line. I feel as though Hood was not healthy, but also that Enes Kanter was clogging up the lane with his lack of wanting to set picks and posting up too often. I felt that head coach Quin Snyder didn’t trust to put the ball in the rookies hands. They mostly stashed him in the corner for threes. This was his primary spot on the floor during summer league and beginning of the regular season. He also struggled in his confidence. He never gained momentum in the beginning of the year because of his injury and the fact that he could have one good game, then the next he would struggle. Lack of consistency is normal for rookies, and you can’t blame Hood for that.
In the second half, Hood, and the Jazz played a lot better basketball. Hood’s plantar fasciitis seemed to calm down. He played 26 out of the 29 games. The Jazz, went 19-10 after the all-star break and after trading Enes Kanter. With that move, and Alec Burks being out for the year, gave Rodney Hood the chance to shine, and he made the most of it. Hood, played 24.1 minutes per game, he shot 46.4% from the field, 42% from the three point line, and 81.4% from the free throw line. With averages of: 11.8 points per game, 2.2 rebounds, and 2.1 assists per game. As you can see, there was a massive improvement in his game. Some may be that the game became slower for him, or just because he wasn’t hurt every other game. In the second half of the season, Hood showed maturity, particularly in his offensive game. Much to show was his ability to hit the above the break three (a three pointer anywhere along the three point line besides the corners), and also his pick and roll offense. These things, including his willingness to attack the basket, gave him an opportunity to become a go to option for the Jazz, and become an elite offensive player in the league.
Let’s talk exclusively about Rodney Hood’s offensive game. Hood has many strengths on offense, as I have mentioned: pick and roll offense, shooting stroke. Things I have not mentioned: slashing ability, and a good willing passer. Here, I will be showing vines, gifs, and videos of Hood exemplifying all that he does and break the play(s) down. First, let’s start with the two and a half minute long YouTube video of Hood scoring 25 against the Sacramento Kings.
At the 26 second mark of the video, Jack Cooley sets a screen for Hood, Hood, takes the screen and goes left into the middle. That’s the first thing he does well, he makes the defender go to his strong side, now he looks for Cooley on the roll, but, Cooley has his defender sealed, which leads with Hood beating his man off the dribble on his strong side with the easy lay-up. Next, at the 1:16 mark, Hood spaces the floor for Dante Exum and Rudy Gobert to run their pick and roll. Hood, gets his feet set and is ready for the ball at any time. He understands that he is a shooter, so he is ready. When Exum reads the screen, he sees Hood open. Hood, with his feet set nails the above the break three. Then, Hood gets the ball on the fast break. The defender, has to respect his above the break three point shooting, so he plays further up, that gives Hood an opportunity to slash the middle of the lane, then Hood creates contact and finishes with the bucket and the foul. Lastly, at the 2:09 mark, Gobert sets the screen for Hood, then Hood takes the ball left (again, his strong side). Rudy Gobert’s defender can’t go too far up do defend Hood because Hood can easily lob the ball to Gobert for the dunk. And Hood knows that. So he goes for the pull up jumper and buries it.
Hood with a textbook pick and roll:
This time, Hood is passing the ball. In this play, Hood gets a screen from Derrick Favors. Hood then goes to his strong side again, but sees there is help on that side due to an overload of players. He sees Derrick and his athleticism rolling to the basket. He’s aware that Favors can beat 33 year old Drew Gooden off the dribble. So, he makes the smart read which leads with the Favors dunk.
Hood in summer league running a pick and roll:
In this play, Jack Cooley gives Hood a screen to his left side, naturally, you would use the screen and go left. But, Hood sees the over placement of his defender, Marcus Smart, on the screen. Hood fakes left and takes it right. Now, Cooley’s defender must make a decision to either play on Hood or guard Cooley on the roll. That defender chooses neither and plays in the middle. This allows Hood to dribble into the middle of the soft spot and hit the short jumper.
Hood in summer league stealing the ball and showing his slashing abilities:
This vine shows how Hood will simply be in the right places on defense by stealing the ball. Now on the offensive end, he shows us his much improved slashing. Hood does a simple hesitation, left to right crossover. Hood beats his man off the dribble and finishes with the easy lay in.
In this last clip I have for you, it shows how Hood can be scary good. Not only can he score while with the ball, but if he develops an off the ball game like this he could be dangerous. Hood starts from the corner, presumably. (we can’t see on the video) and gets an off the ball screen from Jack Cooley. Uses his right shoulder to create space from his defender. Then, to put the fundamentalist icing on the cake, he spaces his shot by widening his base so he doesn’t get blocked.
The stats that you can pull up on Hood can be very revealing. The most interesting things you will find can be found in the shots dashboard. Hood takes 46% of his shots from the three point line, and 54% from two. This gives you a good indication of how much he really does like to take the three. It also shows how versatile he can be, he can be a spot up shooter, or he can be a slasher as well. This number shows what Rodney Hood can do on the floor. For what he likes to shoot, whether it be a catch and shoot or a pull up. You can also see a good sign there as well because his numbers do not drop that much is he shoots off the dribble. Which for most players, that’s not the case. For catch and shoot two point field goals he shoots 28% and from a pull-up, he shoots 41%. This is a big difference in the percentages. But, if we look at the three point percentage, he shoots 38% on catch and shoot, and 31% on pull up threes. With these numbers it’s easy to see that Hood can easily improve his shooting in different areas. It wouldn’t surprise me if he shot over 40% on his three pointers next season. Part of the reason he only shot 36% last year from three is because of his horrible 28.6% from the corner three. Which should be the easiest three point shot. That number should improve naturally next season. One more tidbit I should point out is that Hood was the number one pick and roll forward and the number one shooting forward heading into the draft.
Hood has a big summer coming up for him, and an even bigger season. The summer holds the answer if Rodney Hood will get the starting nod over Alec Burks, or if he will be the Utah Jazz’s sixth man. The season holds to see if the game has slowed down for him, to see if he’s gotten quicker, and plays with more pace. All of these areas are important over this amount of time. Everything should go as planned. Hood is an amazing talent, many of us realize that. He has a very high IQ, and is one of those coveted playmaking wings. Hood has a bright future in the NBA and also can grow with the young and upcoming team in Utah. The only problem Hood has is staying healthy, that is the only concern that most people have. All he has to do to become great, is to keep his body in top condition. With all of this said, I think we will be seeing Rodney Hood running pick and rolls with Rudy Gobert, Derrick Favors, Tibor Pleiss, and Trey Lyles for a very long time.
All stats were provided by basketball reference or NBA.com unless otherwise previously noted.
