Diving into the Portland Trail Blazers roster: Rodney Hood

It’s time to dive into one of the Portland Trail Blazers’ newest acquisitions, Rodney Hood.

Days before the trade deadline, the Portland Blazers acquired winger Rodney Hood from the Cleveland Cavaliers in exchange for Nik Stauskus, Wade Baldwin, and two second-round picks (2021, 2023).

The Duke product was drafted 23rd overall by the Utah Jazz, where he built a pretty solid career. He improved every year to the point he was tallying 16.8 points per game with the squad. He was traded to the Cavs last trade deadline in a three-team deal that sent him and George Hill to play alongside LeBron James in an attempt to reload a stale roster for a playoff push. He didn’t mesh well there and saw his numbers drop across the board.

This season with Cleveland he played a little better but wasn’t on a title contending team anymore. Hood started 45 games for one of the worst teams in the league this season. There, he produced 12.2 points, 2.5 rebounds, two assists, and 0.8 steals per game. He shot .460 from two and a solid .362 from three-point land.

His career stats include 12.8 points, 2.9 rebounds, and two assist per game while shooting .462 from two and .368 from 3.

Hood’s debut:

Last night, Hood made his debut as a Trail Blazer in the Moda Center against the San Antonio Spurs in an game with important Western Conference standings implications. He played about as good of a first game as someone could. In 25 minutes , he went 6-for-7 from the field for 14 points while collecting three rebounds and a steal.

He did a little bit of everything and defended the ball pretty well. He even did a solid job defending former Trail Blazer LaMarcus Aldridge when he got switched onto him one possession. On offense, he brought out a nice floater over LA for his first basket as a Blazer; he pushed the pace when he got a defensive rebound to take it down to the block and back down Spurs guard Bryn Forbes and shoot a fadeaway jumper over him; his third bucket came when he bullied Forbes again down low for another Kobe-esque turnaround that fell after getting a good bounce from the rim; Hood then pushed the pace after another defensive rebound and hit a pull-up three in transition over 7 footer Jakob Poeltl that caused coach Popovich to call a timeout. Later on, he laid up a very nice alley-oop pass from Jusuf Nurkic. His last basket was a wide open three after receiving a pass from Damian Lillard.

Expectations:

I expect Hood to do a little bit of everything for this Blazers squad. He can spot up for three when teams collapse on Dame and CJ McCollum. He can back down smaller opponents. He can push the offensive pace after a rebound. He can create his own shot and is good enough to contribute some defensive stats.

Hood and Layman should eat up a majority of small forward minutes and push Harkless to far more DNP’s or 10 minute games. I’m having a hard time deciding on if I want Hood or Layman to start. I like the thought of Hood abusing second teams coming off the bench, but I also like how Layman comes in and gives the team a spark off the bench.

Kenny “The Jet” Smith made a statement on TNT when talking about Hood last night that I think rings true. In Cleveland, there was no light at the end of the tunnel, no hope. Now, in a winning culture like Portland, a player’s mindset changes. He plays harder and more focused.

I expect Hood to have a very good rest of the season with the Blazers, and hopefully we can ink him here long term once his contract is up.

Welcome to Portland, Rodney Hood!