Tag Archives: Rodney Hood

Rodney Hood Traded to Portland

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On a Super Bowl Sunday afternoon, the news recently broke that the Cavs will be sending forward Rodney Hood over to Portland. In exchange Cleveland receives Nik Stauskas, Wade Baldwin, and two future second round picks. ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported the deal.

Shortly after, the news broke that the second rounders would come in 2021 and 2023.

Hood had signed a $3.4M qualifying offer with the Cavaliers in the offseason. While he has shown flashes, especially early in the year, of being a very capable offensive weapon, he has been very inconsistent this season with Cleveland. He is currently averaging 12.2 points on 42.7% shooting, 36.2% from three. Portland was in need of more offensive weapons and they hope Hood can help take some of the load off Damian Lillard and C.J. McCollum.

Meanwhile, the Cavaliers acquire Nik Stauskas, Wade Baldwin, and the two second rounders.

Stauskas, 25, is in his fifth year in the league. Stauskas was the 8th overall selection by the Kings in 2014. He signed a $1.6M, 1 year deal with Portland in the offseason and is currently putting up 6.1 points for the Blazers. Take a look at his career stats:

He’s been widely considered a draft bust, but has been seen as a sharpshooter throughout his career. He’s recently missed some time with Portland due to a sore knee, but he should be ready to contribute when he arrives in Cleveland.

Meanwhile, point guard Wade Baldwin IV was selected 17th overall in 2016 by the Memphis Grizzlies. Baldwin has not appeared in more than 33 games in a season. Some can be attributed to injuries. Others are from coach’s decision. It’ll be interesting to see what he does in Cleveland with an opportunity.

With the two second round picks, the Cavaliers have now been able to flip Sam Dekker, George Hill, Kyle Korver, and Rodney Hood for seven draft picks.

Four Deals the Cavaliers Could Make at the Deadline

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The Cavs are clearly in all-out rebuild mode. They sit at 10-40 coming off a win over Chicago and are currently in last place in the NBA, which means it’s time to stockpile as many young players and picks as possible before the trade deadline. Cleveland has some talented players on the roster who could be a help to a contending team’s bench. Let’s hop right in and explore four potential deals the Cavaliers could make at the trade deadline.

1. Rockets Add Bench Help in Burks, Hood

Cleveland trades: Alec Burks, Rodney Hood

Houston trades: Brandon Knight, Marquise Chriss, 2021 second round pick

Houston has a star-studded roster, but they lack depth and might just need to add a few bench pieces to really step up to the next level. Alec Burks and Rodney Hood can both step in and give the Rockets a little self-creating offense off the bench, giving stars James Harden and Chris Paul a break. Plus, they’re both good off-ball shooters, which teams with superstars can never seem to get enough of. Houston would also get rid of Brandon Knight’s contract, which helps them financially, but we’ll get to that in a second.

Meanwhile, this makes perfect sense on the Cleveland side. Burks and Hood are two expiring players who likely aren’t a part of the Cavs future. Marquise Chriss is a good young big man who, just today, requested a trade out of Houston to someplace where he can get an opportunity to play.

Chriss can surely crack the Cleveland rotation, and although he is on an expiring contract, the Cavs would be able to offer him more money in the offseason than most teams if they trade for him. Knight hasn’t played at a high level since his ACL injury in 2016-17 and is not playing well for Houston. His contract is worth around $14M for the next two season, which is OK for the Cavs, whose recent strategy has been to collect contracts that expire after the 2019-20 season and then have a lot of cap space. The final item, that 2021 second round pick is always a nice addition for a rebuilding team like the Cavaliers.

2. Bucks Add Burks

Milwaukee trades: Jason Smith, Thon Maker, DJ Wilson

Cleveland trades: Alec Burks, David Nwaba

The Milwaukee Bucks currently have the best record in the NBA. Behind an MVP-caliber season from Giannis Antetokounmpo and all-star caliber campaigns from Khris Middleton and Eric Bledsoe. The Bucks bench is decent, but it could do with one more piece. They have plenty of shooting, so why not add a little of instant offense in Burks? Nwaba can also help their depth and add a little defensive energy.

Meanwhile, the big piece of this deal for Cleveland is the young 7-foot center Thon Maker. Maker has recently requested a trade to a team where he can have a bigger role. Maker (pronounced MAH-KER), 21, was selected 10th overall in 2016. Not because of his talent, but because of his ridiculous work ethic and desire to win. He’s been disappointing so far in his career, but he’s only 21 and can still develop into a good center. He’s got the height, length and a good jumpshot. D.J. Wilson is a solid young power foward, and veteran Jason Smith would be included for salary matching purposes (he’s on a $5M, expiring contract).

3. Hornets Take the Next Step

Charlotte trades: Bismack Biyombo, 2019 second round pick (from OKC), 2019 second round pick (less favorable of DEN and WAS)

Cleveland trades: Rodney Hood, J.R. Smith

Charlotte currently sits at 24-25, eighth place in the Eastern Conference. The Pistons are currently 2.5 games back of them for a playoff spot, so Charlotte is going to need a little more help if they’re going to stay one step ahead of Detroit. Kemba Walker’s contract is expiring this year, and he’s likely not coming back, so the Hornets would like to make the most of his final season. Or, if they show that they’re making moves to win it could influence Kemba’s decision this offseason.

J.R. Smith hasn’t suited up for a Cavs game in awhile and is the most obvious Cavalier to try to trade, and he can help space the court for Charlotte. Meanwhile, Rodney Hood adds an additional offensive boost and, again, more shooting to that Hornets offense. It’s not a huge trade or anything, but it puts Charlotte into a good position to have a good shot at the playoffs this year.

Meanwhile, Cleveland acquires the bad contract of Bismack Biyombo, $17M for the next two seasons. As we mentioned earlier, it fits in with the Cavaliers plan to bunch up the “expiring in ’19-20” contracts. The picks are, as always a good addition to a rebuilding team and Cleveland rids themselves of the $3.87M guaranteed of Smith’s contract next year, even if he’s cut (it’s worth over $15M if he’s not cut).

4. Blazers Rid of Bad Contracts, Add Bench Help

Portland trades: Evan Turner, Meyers Leonard, 2019 first round pick, 2021 second round pick

Cleveland trades: J.R. Smith, Alec Burks, Rodney Hood

Portland currently sits at 31-20, 4th in the Western Conference. While they aren’t talked about much at all, Damian Lillard is quietly having another exceptional year and has lead Portland to unexpected success. They’re star-studded with Lillard, shooting guard CJ McCollum and a few other nice pieces like center Jusuf Nurkic.

Portland needs more depth to step up into the level of teams like Golden State, Denver, Houston, and even Oklahoma City. This trade gives them just that. Smith, Burks and Hood could bring a lot of great offense to a currently weak Portland bench, and Hood might even start at small forward for them. They also get rid of two bad contracts.

Turner and Leonard are on $17.9M and $10.6M deals, respectively, but they go along with our common theme of expiring after the ’19-20 season. This is our only deal that involves a first round pick, which the Cavaliers would be happy to take for three players who aren’t a part of their future.

Cavaliers players who could be on the move

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The NBA trade deadline is only a few weeks away, the Cleveland Cavaliers are obvious sellers and could end up making multiple trades.

The NBA trade deadline is February 7, this is more than enough time for the Cleveland Cavaliers to finalize trades. There are multiple players with expiring contracts that contending teams could take a chance on to make that final push.

The obvious and sometimes forgotten name is J.R. Smith. Smith has been apart from the team for quite some time now. The team and Smith agreed mutually to part ways and facilitate a trade. Smith has one more year after this season on his deal for just over $15.6 million. Smith could be a nice bench piece for a team in need of three-point shooting. The only obstacle of course is the expensive contract.

As soon as Rodney Hood signed his one-year qualifying offer from the Cavaliers the trade rumors began. Hood struggled last season in Cleveland and needed to rebuild his value. The thought at the time was for Hood to sign the deal, play better and hopefully get moved to a contender before the deadline. So far, so good. Hood is much improved this season when compared to last year. There will be a market for Hood, the only question is what teams will give up for him.

Hood’s former Jazz teammate and current Cavaliers teammate Alec Burks has also popped up in trade rumors. Cleveland acquire Burks earlier this season and is drawing interest from numerous teams. Burks is playing better since putting on a Cavaliers uniform and in the right situation could continue his uptick in play.

J.R. Smith, Rodney Hood and Alec Burks could all be playing for different teams in a few short weeks. Cleveland has no real need to hang onto them and would be wise to consider getting something in return for players who can provide to more competitive teams.

Cavaliers injuries continue to pile up

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With the injury to Larry Nance Jr. Wednesday the Cleveland Cavaliers have another injury to deal with and are forced to make more lineup adjustments.

Current starting power forward Larry Nance Jr. suffered a sprained MCL and is out for the next two to four weeks. This is just another injury that the Cleveland Cavaliers have to manage this season. The team is already without regular starting power forward Kevin Love and his return timetable is murky at best. Add in the fact that Rodney Hood and David Nwaba are also out it puts the Cavaliers in a rough situation. Hood is still dealing with his achilles injury and Nwaba is still recovering from an ankle injury.

It seems that just as Cleveland gets a player back at least one more suffers an injury. When these injures occur it shuffles the rotations and players who should not play all that much see extended playing time. Channing Frye will always be a fan favorite, but at this point in time he should not be playing more than 10 minutes per game. Frye has eclipsed 10 minutes of playing time in six of the past eight games. Part of this is due to lack of bodies, the other factor is that four of the six contests with more than 10 minutes played were blowouts.

Ante Zizic is another player under normal circumstances would not be playing this much. If Cleveland had all of their big men at their disposal minutes would be hard to come by for Zizic. There is a reason for this. Zizic is the slowest and least athletic big man on the team. When playing in the modern NBA this is an awful combo. Sure he can stand under the rim and rebound, but that is about it. All it takes is a somewhat athletic big man or one that can shoot outside the paint and Zizic is neutralized.

What can the Cavaliers do in the interim?

Unfortunately not much. The team can continue to sign players to 10-day contracts, such as the deal that brought Cameron Payne to Cleveland. Their other option is to ride out the storm on a lost season. The team is all but guaranteed to have one of the top picks in the upcoming NBA Draft. To increase their chances the team will continue to play lesser players a significant number of minutes. Additionally the team can keep injured players out longer to ensure their long-term health and to guarantee the team continues to lose.

This season has not gone as expected, might as well make sure the best players are right for next season. It is about building a team for the future and not trying to win games to cost the team a chance to select one of the best players in the upcoming draft.

Cavaliers re-sign Rodney Hood

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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.