Portland Trail Blazers: 3 reasons why keeping Rodney Hood was smart

2. Shooting and scoring ability

One of the things Hood does very well — at 6’8” and 206 pounds — is score the ball in a variety of ways on and off the ball. That is something Portland has lacked from a role player for a while. For his career, he’s averaged 12.6 points per game while shooting 42.2 percent from the field and 36.7 percent from the 3-point line.

Hood can play a point forward type of role for the team. He can create plays for himself, teammates and get to his spots at all three levels on the court. Off the ball, he can hit shots from catch-and-shoot looks off screens and pin downs.

In the past, with Al-Farouq Aminu and Maurice Harkless, defenses would sag off them from deep and send more help defense towards Lillard, McCollum and Nurkic. They were not threats, and that hurt Portland’s offense, especially in the playoffs.

Hood’s presence on the floor opens up the offense and makes life easier for everyone else. At 6’8”, he is excellent at taking advantage of mismatches and scoring with his back to the basket in the post against almost any defender. Hood gives opposing teams someone they have to worry about from deep and when he has the ball in his hands. It should be fun to see him in this offense for a full 82-game season.