Philadelphia 76ers: 3 potential replacements for Marco Belinelli
By Simon Smith
2. Rodney Hood, Cleveland Cavaliers
A former first round selection out of Duke, the 25-year-old Hood is one of a number of highly talented players who remain unsigned through the second week of free agency.
Entering this summer, Hood is rebounding from an extremely mixed past season. Having averaged 16.8 points per game through his first 39 games with the Utah Jazz, Hood was dealt midseason to the Cleveland Cavaliers. However, playing in the shadow of LeBron James, Hood saw his opportunities, and thus his production, shrink in his new environment.
While this wasn’t ideal entering free agency, Hood’s reputation took the greatest hit following Game 4 of the Cavaliers’ Eastern Conference semifinals series against the Toronto Raptors. On the verge of sweeping the Raptors, Hood refused to enter the game in the final period when called upon by head coach Tyronn Lue. Although he later apologized, this certainly didn’t go unnoticed around the league.
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Overall last season, just 51.2 percent of Hood’s made field goals came via an assist from a teammate. Considering some of the Sixers’ existing starters like J.J. Redick are highly reliant on getting open looks, Hood’s ability top get off his own shot provides the Sixers with a genuine point of difference. At 6’8″, Hood is also a legitimate long range threat, having converted at a 38.9 percent clip on 6.7 attempts per game in his 39 appearances with the Jazz.
Still with scope to improve his overall game, Hood would fill a genuine area of need for the Sixers, while also having the opportunity to showcase his game for a larger contract down the track.
However, he’s a restricted free agent, so any offer Philadelphia sent his way at this point would almost certainly be matched by the Cavs. At this point, it’d take Cleveland renouncing his rights for any sort of low-level deal to come through the pipeline.