Utah Jazz: Paging Rodney Hood, It’s Time To Step Up

With the fifth pick in the 2014 NBA draft the Utah Jazz select Dante Exum from Melbourne, Australia. 

Remember the draft night for the Utah Jazz? When the Jazz selected the 6’6″ guard from Australia, they sent shock waves throughout the NBA. The Jazz got the upside pick for the future when they drafted point guard Dante Exum with the fifth pick.

The Jazz were then feeling good and optimistic later on in the draft when they saw who else was available. The Jazz had an additional first-round pick, and because the 6’8″ shooting guard from Duke, Rodney Hood was still on the board, they couldn’t pass him up.

Hood wasn’t salty about getting selected late in the first round even though he had every reason for anger. When Hood left Duke, he was one of the best prospects in the 2014 NBA Draft class and was projected as a late lottery pick.

Instead of those feelings of anger and rage, Hood looked thankful that he was getting ready to accomplish a long time dream of playing professional basketball at the highest level.

Now 32 games into his rookie season he’s going to finally start getting consistent minutes because of a season-ending shoulder injury to starting shooting guard Alec Burks. The 23-year-old from Grandview, Mo., was a lottery pick and got drafted in 12th overall in 2011.

Now that Burks’ season is done, it’s time for his rookie shooting guard counterpart Hood to elevate his game and play like the lottery pick that many expected him to become when he left Duke.

In some ways Hood’s timing in the starting lineup couldn’t be better. The best player on the Jazz, Gordon Hayward, is starting to heat up and play well. Now that Hood is in the lineup he won’t take a lot of shots and Hayward is going to take the lion share of the field goal attempts, and for good reason.

In his last ten games Hayward is averaging 19.8 points on 45 percent shooting, 4.5 rebounds and 4.5 assists. In his last two games Hayward has started getting more aggressive with Burks out of the lineup. He finished with 22 points including going 4-for-7 from the three-point line, seven assists, and four rebounds against Clippers.

While against the Minnesota Timberwolves he had one of his best games of the year finishing with 26 points on 9-for-16 shooting, including going 3-for-4 from the three-point line and 5-for-5 from the free throw line. Hayward also chipped in with two rebounds, three assists, and two steals.

As for Hood, he played a sub-par game against the Timberwolves finishing with four points, two rebounds, one assist, and one block.

Hood is going to have to start playing more consistent and sharper so he can look like the player he was when he had one of his best games of his career when he played against the Los Angeles Clippers. Hood posted a stat line of nine points, seven rebounds, five assists, two steals and one block and making Jazz fans forget about Burks.

The one aspect of Hood’s game that has to get rolling is his shooting. Even though Hood is shooting a terrible 27 percent from the three-point line on the year, don’t let the numbers fool you, this man can shoot.

In his last season of college basketball playing for Duke, he was first in the ACC in effective field goal percentage (55 percent), fourth in field goal percentage (46 percent), seventh in true shooting percentage (59 percent), and he shot 42 percent from the three-point line.

The law of averages are going to catch up eventually and for some players the speed of the NBA game, and the adjustment from college to the NBA is a different learning curve for every rookie.

Hood’s showed off his shooting ability a few times on the season like when he went 2-for-2 against the Miami Heat. Or the time he went 3-for-3 against the Orlando Magic, maybe he just shoots well in the state of Florida.

The best part of Hood’s game isn’t his shooting, it’s his ability to play point forward. At 6’8 he’s versatile to play multiple positions on the court and what he brings to any lineup he’s apart of is ball handling and court vision.

Hood has a little bit of Hayward’s game, in the sense that he can take his man off the dribble and score. Or he can take his man off the dribble and set up a teammate for an open shot.

Regardless of what situations he’s placed in, this rookie is going to thrive and the Jazz got a steal getting him with the 23rd pick in the 2014 NBA Draft.

Now is the time for Hood to show why he was so coveted by many general managers.

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