Hood seems to be most Jazz fans’ scapegoat for Utah’s recent struggles and it might be warranted. Rightly so or not, Hood was set up to be Utah’s primary scoring option.
While Hood missed time early, he looked impressive against Minnesota and nearly led the Jazz to a win with 20 points on 7-of-12 shooting to go along with four assists. That is exactly the kind of player the Jazz need Hood to become on a nightly basis. Hood has shown flashes that he can be “the guy” in a win over Dallas and a surprising loss to Phoenix.
Unfortunately, Hood’s season has again been plagued by inconsistent shooting and times where he just simply seems to disappear. In his last three games, Hood has shot just 11-of-40. Hood’s recent slump includes an 0-of-11 performance against Portland which saw Coach Snyder turn to rookie Donovan Mitchell over Hood down the stretch.
This should have served as a wake-up call to Hood, however, he has failed to hit 20 points for consecutive games since. It seems to be increasingly clear that Hood is far better suited as a secondary scoring option.
Expectations may have been unrealistic for Hood, but he simply needs to play better.
His replacement may already be waiting in the wings.
Donovan Mitchell already has a higher Player Efficiency Rating and Box Plus-Minus than Rodney Hood... pic.twitter.com/nOFat5Hnuw
— Andy Bailey (@AndrewDBailey) November 6, 2017