Utah Jazz: Three predictions leading up to the trade deadline

Prediction #2 – The Jazz will trade Rodney Hood

Aside from Derrick Favors who many had pinned as Utah’s most likely trade candidate, the player who all of a sudden makes the most sense to be moved is Rodney Hood. There are some significant reasons for this. First of all, the Jazz have already made it known that they’re actively shopping Hood, looking to get the best possible return out of him. At 16.4 points per game and 38.7 percent shooting from three, there’s a lot for opposing teams to like about the Duke product.

However, Utah has played some of its best basketball without Rodney Hood on the floor. He was absent for the first four of the Jazz’s current five-game winning streak and played only limited minutes in the most recent win over the San Antonio Spurs. With the Jazz finding success even without Rodney in action, it would make it all the more difficult to extend major dollars to him this offseason in restricted free agency.

Particularly as bargain player Royce O’Neale continues to light it up and prove himself a worthy diamond in the rough, the Jazz would likely be more prudent to use their money this summer to fill an area of greater need rather than re-signing the inconsistent and oft-injured Rodney Hood. With all that adding up, I predict that the Jazz will indeed make a deal for Hood at the deadline.

What that deal will ultimately be though is almost impossible to guess. The Detroit Pistons and Denver Nuggets are two teams with purported interest in Hood, but it remains to be seen if they have anything that entices the Jazz.

In my mind, it makes absolute sense for the Jazz to move Hood. Along with concerns regarding his fit on the team and his cost, Rodney has seemed disgruntled with his role in Utah and could very well flourish somewhere else, just like Trey Lyles has with the Nuggets. Factor all this together and it truly makes sense to deal Hood rather than let him walk in restricted free agency.

However, the one scenario where I could see myself being off in this prediction is if the Jazz simply can’t find a return that they like for Hood. They don’t want to take on bad contracts and they likely want a focus on relatively young talent and/or picks in order to help build for the not-so-distant future rather than handcuff themselves this summer. If they can’t find any sort of beneficial deal like that, it would be better to keep Rodney and see what he can do to close out the year.

Nevertheless, the sentiment has been that Hood is drawing quite a bit of interest around the league and with that being the case, I truly believe that Dennis Lindsey will find a suitable deal and that Hood will indeed be dealt at the deadline, marking a pretty significant change for the Jazz.