After months of waiting Rodney Hood finally signed his one-year qualifying offer to return to the Cleveland Cavaliers. Hood’s deal with the Cavaliers is worth $3.4 million.
Bringing back Rodney Hood seemed inevitable for the Cavaliers. Part of the reason is that he was a restricted free agent. The other part is that interest in Hood was essentially non-existent. Teams were not exactly lining up at the door for Hood’s services and it showed. Hood waited until September to finally sign.
During his stint with the Cavaliers last season Hood was quite disappointing. Averaging 10.8 PPG on 44.2 percent shooting from the field including 35.2 percent from deep during the regular season. The postseason was a completely different story. Hood’s numbers dropped tremendously. Averaging only 5.4 PPG on 42.4 percent from the field and 16.7 percent from three-point range.
(It is also worth noting that Hood played 10 less minutes in the postseason when compared to the regular season).
Hood essentially disappeared during the postseason. This led to speculation that he would not return to Cleveland. However Hood is back and ready to prove himself.
A potential new role could lead to better results from Hood
The elephant in the room is the absence of LeBron James. In Cleveland James required a lot of playing time and when on the court required the ball in his hands. The offense went through James. Now that James is gone the entire roster will be impacted in regards to playing time and role.
Hood, among others, will without a doubt see an increase in playing time. This additional playing time will also require Hood to perform at a higher level than he did last season. Something that Hood is more than capable of accomplishing.
Before the trade to Cleveland Hood averaged 16.8 PPG on 42.4 percent shooting with 38.9 percent from three. While Hood’s overall field goal percentage increased his points and three-point field goal percentage dropped. Part of the reason is that over a third of Hood’s attempts came inside 10 feet in Cleveland. While in Utah this number was only about one quarter of his overall attempts. Essentially Hood got better opportunities in Cleveland while playing with one of the best players ever to play the game.
This season Hood will need to find a way to increase his production and efficiency without the benefit of defenses keying in on James. If Hood does indeed accomplish this will benefit both Hood and Cleveland. Hood will be able to potentially turn this into a long-term contract and Cleveland will get excellent play from one of their players.
