Hot take alert: Utah Jazz should be willing to part with Rodney Hood

Given the many issues that Rodney Hood has displayed this season, the Utah Jazz should be open to moving the young guard if the right opportunity presents itself.

Oh man… I’m only on the first line of this article and I’m already worried about the wrath that it’s going to incur upon me from Utah Jazz fans…

The 2017-18 season was always set to be a year of discovery which would allow the Jazz to figure out which guys currently on the roster figured into their future plans and which ones would ultimately become expendable.

And while that evaluation has become much more difficult than imagined due to the fact that the Jazz have once again fallen victim to an outrageous onslaught of injuries that only got worse on Saturday when it was announced that Thabo Sefolosha would miss the remainder of the season, there’s still been plenty of opportunity to figure out who’s truly vital to Utah’s future and who it would be better for them to part ways with.

Some are relatively unanimous. We all agree that Utah should hold on to Rudy Gobert and Donovan Mitchell for dear life, while it’s become overwhelmingly clear that Derrick Favors and Joe Johnson’s time with the Jazz has run its course. Beyond them, however, there’s quite a bit of controversy regarding many of the remaining players on the roster, including the guy that many presumed would be Utah’s go-to scorer and a main component of their core moving forward – Rodney Hood.

And while several will likely disagree with me, I’m here to tell you that the Jazz should be more than willing to move on from Rodney Hood, be it through a trade or during this summer’s free agency, particularly if he comes with a hefty asking price.

Many Hood detractors have pointed to his inconsistency as an issue and I fully agree with that claim. Between injury woes and streaky shooting, there’s almost no denying that Hood has been far from a reliable option for Utah during his career. However, to begin the 2017-18 season, many in favor of Rodney were quick to point out that his consistency issues appeared to be fading and that he was rapidly transforming into exactly what the Utah Jazz needed.

And they certainly appeared to be right for a time. Rodney began the year with nice shooting splits and prior to Mitchell truly bursting onto the scene, he was the Jazz’s leading scorer. However, if Rodney’s recent play is any indication, it seems that the beginning of the year was once again nothing but a spike in production as he’s slipped right back into one of his woeful slumps.

In the month of January, Hood is averaging just 10.6 points on painful shooting splits of 33.9 percent from the field and 23.3 percent from deep. And despite a few memorable outbursts in the month of December such as against the San Antonio Spurs, his issues go well back before the start of the new year.

Check out his shooting figures from the last nine games:

• 12/23 vs. OKC – 9 points, 3-of-14 from the field, 2-of-8 from deep
• 12/26 at DEN – 10 points, 4-of-17 from the field, 2-of-7 from deep
• 12/27 at GSW – 26 points, 9-of 20 from the field, 2-of-5 from deep
• 12/30 vs. CLE – 12 points, 4-of-13 from the field, 4-of-11 from deep
• 1/3 vs. NOP – 2 points, 1-of-10 from the field, 0-of-6 from deep
• 1/5 at DEN – 12 points, 5-of-9 from the field, 2-of-5 from deep
• 1/7 at MIA – 17 points, 7-of-16 from the field, 1-of-5 from deep
• 1/10 at WAS – 7 points, 3-of-11 from the field, 1-of-5 from deep
• 1/12 at CHA – 15 points, 4-of-13 from the field, 3-of-9 from deep

There’s a couple nice outings in there, to be sure, but even his high scoring games don’t jump out as being anywhere near highly efficient. And there’s so many awful games in there where Rodney seemingly failed to show up that it essentially cancels out the good ones. His feast or famine production is frustrating for coaches, fans and teammates alike, and his inability to be a reliable option certainly should make him rather expendable for the Jazz.

But that’s far from the only reason why Hood has been such a frustrating part of the team. It’s one thing to have ups and downs as well as the occasional off shooting night, but an additional problem about Hood is that he brings little else to the floor. He’s on the court to be a shooting specialist, particularly from deep. However, if his shot’s not falling (which is too frequently an occurrence), there’s really no other reason to have him out there.

He doesn’t rebound well (2.8 per game), he doesn’t pass well (1.8 assists per game) especially for a guard, he is a poor defender and he doesn’t play with enough energy to help spark his team with any intangibles or hustle plays. Perhaps worst of all, though, Hood is an extremely poor decision maker.

That’s part of the reason why his shooting efficiency is so down, because he settles for dumb shots, often holding onto the ball too long, and also why his assists are down as he struggles to make the right pass (or at times to even pass it at all). And on several occasions, his selfish or unintelligent play has been absolutely detrimental for the Jazz.

Take a recent sequence against the Miami Heat for example. The Utah Jazz were up by one late in the contest with a chance to ice the game. However, Hood caught the ball in the backcourt and took his sweet time bringing it up, called off his teammates, decided to take the possession all in his own hands and ended up chucking a contested three-pointer that, to little surprise, clanked off the backboard.

Check it out for yourself in the clip below:

Some said that it was a shot that Hood has made many times before. I said that it’s also one he’s missed even more times before. He had plenty of opportunity to involve his teammates and get a better look for himself or someone else, but instead he foolishly tried to be the hero. It could be argued that this was just one mistake on a single play, but this sequence is actually just one of many similar examples when it comes to the play of Rodney Hood.

In Utah’s recent win over the Washington Wizards, Hood showcased further poor decision making and a lack of discipline as he received two technical fouls in the game after arguing with the refs. It’s human nature to get upset and in Hood’s case these outbursts felt like a rather isolated incident, but still it was not a good move on his part.

Considering that he is supposed to be one of Utah’s main guys, it was extremely poor judgement for him to put his team in jeopardy by essentially taking himself out of the game during the third quarter with his foolish arguing, especially since the second “missed call” wasn’t really anything for him to be upset about.

However, Utah did go on to win the game without him, so maybe his foolish move actually helped the Jazz be better off. Hmmm…anyone catching my drift here?

As he left the court, his poor decision making continued as he went on to knock a phone out of a fan’s hand as you can see in the video below. Though it was claimed by some that his intention was only to give a high five, it sure didn’t look that way live and the league didn’t see it that way either as he was slapped with a hefty $35,000 fine.

Hilarious or not, accidental or not, it was still not a good decision. And it wasn’t a good look for his Jazz team for Hood to act in such a childish manner.

Last of all, after watching Hood for three and a half years with the Jazz, he’s shown time and time again that he isn’t the kind of guy that’s going to go out and lay it all on the line for his team. I touched on his defense already, but just in general, more often than not he’s appeared completely soft on both ends.

This following play from last night’s loss to Charlotte perfectly encapsulates what I mean. After the Hornets’ Michael Kidd-Gilchrist got a steal, Rodney Hood had every chance in the world to try and catch him to make a play – be it to contest the shot or even just foul him to send a bad foul shooter to the line. After all, Rodney was ahead of him on the play so it wouldn’t have been a clear path foul.

Instead, he simply got out of the way, took a half-hearted swipe towards the ball and let Kidd-Gilchrist get an easy dunk. Check it out at the 1:37 mark in the video below.

That lackluster effort and worse result perfectly encapsulates what Rodney Hood has stood for in a Jazz uniform to me. And on top of dreadful inconsistency, frequent injuries, the inability to add anything to the game when his shot isn’t falling, poor decision making and a tendency to play soft, it’s possible that Hood could hurt Utah even more this summer when he hits restricted free agency.

It’s been surmised that Hood could demand a hefty pay raise once his rookie contract expires. If Utah breaks the bank to pay for him and those aforementioned woes continue, he could very well become Alec Burks 2.0. That’s simply something that Utah cannot afford to have happen again as they try to position themselves as a contender in the West.

Therefore, rather than pay too much for a guy that has proven less than vital to Utah’s success, they should be very much open to parting ways with him. Despite his issues, he has enough talent and can get hot enough from deep that there are bound to be plenty of Hood believers out there that would be willing to make a deal for him. With that being the case, he could potentially be one of the Jazz’s most valuable trade pieces.

And as such, if they can get a good draft pick or a player in return that will help eliminate some of the issues Hood has, they should definitely go for it. He’s been far from a vital or reliable piece for the Jazz and so they need to treat him as such.

If he can’t be moved at the deadline, then there’s no reason why they shouldn’t see what kind of offers come his way in restricted free agency. If the Jazz can somehow get him on a bargain, then I wouldn’t be completely opposed to keeping him. Yes, he has some issues, but I wouldn’t say he’s a lost cause by any means. However, if he commands an outrageous price, then those very same issues should cause the Jazz to hit the breaks.

Next: Utah Jazz: Sefolosha out for season, Gobert not ready to return

Rodney Hood does have some redeemable qualities and when he’s at his best, he’s a nice young talent. However, the Utah Jazz need to be careful to not get too sucked into those seemingly rare moments and put more stock in him than he’s worth. If the right trade opportunity comes up or if an asking price gets too high, the Jazz front office needs to be ready to let him go.

Doing otherwise could very well result in them kicking themselves down the road for investing too greatly in a player that ends up being less than ideal.