5. Rodney Hood, Cleveland Cavaliers
My, how a year can change things. One year ago, Rodney Hood was still considered the future of the shooting guard spot for the Utah Jazz. A year later, Donovan Mitchell is a star and Hood is a member of the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Though Hood averaged a career-high 16.8 points per game on 38.9 percent shooting from deep in his 39 games in Utah last year, Mitchell’s rise to prominence was undeniable. When Hood struggled to adapt to a sixth man role, he was shipped off to The Land, where he was even more disappointing as part of a team that went to the NBA Finals.
Hood’s scoring dipped to 10.8 points per game, and dropped even further in the playoffs to just 5.8 points in 15.3 minutes per game on an anemic 16.7 percent shooting from downtown. No one will forget how he refused to come off the bench during a playoff game, and since he’s playing the 2018-19 campaign on a one-year qualifying offer, the pressure is really on for this soon-to-be 26-year-old to step up for a LeBron James-less Cavs squad.