National Basketball Association

Utah Jazz: Has Rodney Hood Finally Turned the Corner?

Updated Mar. 4, 2020 9:24 p.m. ET

Fansided, Ryan Aston/FanSided via Purple and Blues

Rodney Hood’s season has been a hot-and-cold affair. But after his shooting stroke dropped to sub-zero temperatures, the Utah Jazz wing is suddenly surging.

It’s been another funky season for the Utah Jazz. Guys have been in and out of the lineup with injuries and the team has yet to fully hit its stride as a result. Starting shooting guard Rodney Hood has been affected more than most, failing to make the kind of impact many expected coming into the season.

However, in recent games against the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Detroit Pistons, the Jazz wing seems to have rediscovered his stroke.

Hood was a major factor in Utah’s win over LeBron James and the Cavs, scoring 18 points and grabbing five rebounds to go along with three assists and two steals. In a game that the Jazz ultimately won by eight, the team was plus-10 with Hood on the floor.

The big thing for Hood in the contest was his ability to put the ball into the basket, something he’s really struggled to do recently. He hit a solid, if not overly impressive 7-of-15 from the field and 4-of-10 from three-point range. That’s 46.7 and 40 percent respectively; numbers that dwarf what Hood had been able to do in recent contests.

Over the course of the six games preceding the Jazz-Cavs showdown, Hood was shooting just 28.8 percent overall and 19 percent from distance. He averaged a meager 9.3 points per game during that stretch.

Following his effort against the Cavs, Hood took things to another level in the blowout win over the Pistons. He finished with a game and season-high 27 points, making 10-of-14 shots overall and missing just one of his eight three-point attempts.

Rodney Hood after scorching the nets against the Pistons.#DETatUTA pic.twitter.com/qQwUyf17af

— Utah Jazz (@utahjazz) January 14, 2017

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The two-game bounce-back was just what Hood needed to help turn the corner.

Although he hasn’t missed as many games as Alec Burks, George Hill or Derrick Favors, Hood has struggled to reintegrate himself to the lineup. After averaging 16.3 points per game during the month of November and getting fans hot and bothered over his potential emergence as one of the league’s best two-guards, he’s largely been out of sync.

Some of it can be traced back to the illness and hamstring issues that plagued him last month. However, confidence had also become an issue. Things came to a head against the Cavs when Jazz coach Quin Snyder said he would bench Hood if he didn’t continue to shoot.

“He drew up a play for me to shoot it,” Hood said. “I didn’t feel comfortable shooting it. He yelled at me. From then on, I just kept firing away. It’s exactly what he’s saying. ‘Keep firing away and they’ll start to fall.'”

Time will tell if Hood has truly turned the corner; it’s only been two games, after all. Nevertheless, Coach Snyder’s prediction is looking pretty good for the moment.