Rodney Hood should come off the bench for the Portland Trail Blazers

Why might the Portland Trail Blazers bring Rodney Hood off the bench in 2019-20?

When the Portland Trail Blazers acquired Rodney Hood from the Cleveland Cavaliers, most people around the league lauded the move. A low risk transaction, Hood did not fit the ball dominant ways of LeBron James the previous year and was clearly not a part of the future rebuilding plan of the Cavs organization.

Once he arrived in Rip City, Hood was able to acclimate quickly to the Blazers system. Not only was he given new motivation due to Portland’s playoff prospects, but Terry Stotts’ offense and role for Hood was much more conducive to his talents.

In Cleveland, he was essentially relegated to a spot up shooting role, Sure he was always a good spot threat from behind the three point line, as evidenced by his 36.7% career accuracy from shots behind the arc, but his real skills lied in his ability to generate shots as a secondary shot creator. Lost in the shuffle, his desire sort of disappeared, leading to the Blazers being able to get him on that bargain deal.

Over the offseason, with the departure of almost all the other forwards who played major minutes, he is now somehow the longest tenured wing on the roster. Everyone all but assumes that Hood will slide into the starting small forward role, but is that best for both him AND the organization?

Once he came to Portland, it was clear how much better he fit into the system. Coming off the bench, he had opportunities to play both on and off the ball. In his 45 games with Cleveland, he sported an effective field goal percentage of 49.3%. During the second half of the 2018-19 year with the Blazers, that number jumped up to 51.9%. This increase was highlighted by accuracy increases around the rim (10%) and mid range (4%). (Cleaning the Glass)

I tell you all this to show how effective Hood was in his second unit role. Like I said earlier, Hood thrives when he can play both on and off the ball. Next to Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum, many of those creation opportunities will be taken away due to sharing the floor with players who had usage rates of 29.3 and 25.5 respectively.

Sure, Portland could just stagger Hood’s minutes, replacing him with Kent Bazemore at the first substitution, and then bringing him back later in the quarter/half with the second. However, in my opinion, that takes both Hood and Bazemore out of their rhythm.

Instead, I suggest Stotts toy with the idea of starting Bazemore outright. Not as threatening of a threat with the ball in hands, Bazemore would be much better suited playing off Lillard and McCollum rather than being forced to have the ball in his hands in tandem with Anfernee Simons. Bazemore has consistently ranked in the upper tiers when it comes to assisted baskets, and that can only improve with such a dynamic starting backcourt.

I’m not saying that Hood should go to bench. In fact, it probably will not happen. Part of the reason he took such a discount was probably because he had a guaranteed starting spot for next season. Additionally, his size (6-foot-8) makes him a better fit defensively next to Portland’s undersized backcourt compared to the 6-foot-5 Bazemore. In a vacuum, he is simply a better and more dynamic player for the Blazers. But offensively it makes sense, and it should be something that Stotts might look into, maybe through the staggering I suggested earlier. Either way, the small forward rotation breakdown is something to look at as the 2019-20 season draws closer.