Cleveland Cavaliers: 3 reasons to re-sign Rodney Hood
By Ryan Piers
1. Cleveland and Hood lack options
Cleveland signed Kevin Love to a four-year extension, receiving the max amount of money in the second and third years of his deal. The money owed to him flattens out following the 2020-21 season.
That’s around the time Hood’s suspected three-year contract would expire, leaving two possibilities.
First, the best-case scenario. Hood taps into his unrecognized talent, like Victor Oladipo did last season, becoming an All-Star while somewhat fulfilling the Shaq-sized shoes left by LeBron. Hood, Love and Sexton combine to create a three-headed monster that competes for an Eastern Conference title.
Rodney Hood (@rodneyhood) is one of just 24 players to average 14.5+ ppg and shoot 38%+ from three last season. There’s a player with pretty similar stats who received a four-year, $84 million extension last October. Denver Nuggets shooting guard Gary Harris.
— King Q (B-loved Watcher) (@qshironalbertie) July 28, 2018
If Hood falls short of his potential, Cleveland is likely a middling team in three years. They don’t re-sign Hood, deal Love with his now team-friendly contract and try to restock around Sexton.
Either way, Cleveland won’t have the money to sign big free agents over the next couple seasons. Nobody will likely want to trade for Love until he is out of the max contract portion of his deal, and Cleveland already owes its 2019 first round pick (top-10 protected) to the Atlanta Hawks.
2018 NBA free agency tracker - Grades for every deal so far. dark. Next
After extending Love, Cleveland picked a path that will take about three years to navigate. For that reason, it’s the perfect amount of time to sign Hood.