Do the Jazz Have the Best Bench in the NBA?

Do the Jazz Have the Best Bench in the NBA? by Hayden Van de Maat

Utah Jazz wing Rodney Hood has quickly become one of the better shooting guards in the NBA. How good can he be next season?

The Utah Jazz rebuild has been rightfully praised for many reasons — none larger than their ability to fill the coffers with young talent without bottoming out for long. There was no prolonged tank, no process to be trusted. The Jazz only had one year like that, winning 25 games in 2013-14 en route to a top-five pick.

That was the draft when Utah would get their superstar of the future, presumably with their fifth pick. And yet, in classic Jazz fashion, it’s the 23rd pick of that draft who has emerged as a budding star.

Rodney Hood’s evolution from draft-night slider to a starting-level shooting guard was a huge boon to Utah, but also one facilitated by savvy coaching. It’s a common narrative that Hood’s arrival was borne out of Alec Burks’ injury. That may have been the case during his rookie season, but Hood was the starter from Day 1 last year.

Coach Snyder surprised many by choosing Hood over the incumbent Burks, but his decision would be thoroughly vindicated one game at a time. Snyder was more than happy to comment on his guard’s maturation throughout the season. “I think we’re seeing a more assertive player. Hood’s a more confident player as he’s gone through some tough games.” – Quin Snyder

Hood fits perfectly within Utah’s offense, as a slashing guard with solid three-point numbers. When playing alongside the starters, he threads his way through screens off-ball, eluding his defenders before spotting up for three.

Over 65 percent of his three-point attempts were catch-and-shoot, and he canned those at a 38 percent clip. Just maintaining that would be perfectly fine, but Hood is likely to improve.

Looking at players’ free throw percentage can be a good way to identify over and under-performing shooters, and Hood’s 86 percent mark bodes well for his catch-and-shoot future from deep. There were 15 players who shot 85 percent (or higher) from the line and took 150 catch-and-shoot threes. Hood’s 38 percent mark was 14th-worst among that group, with most guys shooting well over 40 percent. That should regress to the mean next season, with his easy stroke leading to even more knockdown threes.

Snyder’s offense features a ton of actions away from the ball, mostly designed to get shooters free and cutters open. Their play type numbers bear it out — Utah topped the league in hand-offs and spot-ups. Hood often heard his number called on these plays, finishing in the top-10 in FGA’s out of hand-off and spot-up actions.

Coupling that volume with tremendous efficiency (combined effective field goal percentage of 53.4) is what makes Hood so devastating.

Watching film on Hood, the first thing I noticed was his bounciness. He’s not a Jimmy Butler-level athlete at the two, nor is he known as one. But he gets remarkable lift on his jumpers, even late in games when other players often lose their legs. That helps him shooting over closeouts, and posting up hapless guards.

Hood’s wingspan is puny for his size (6-foot-8.5 height, 6-foot-8.5 wingspan), but his sheer vertical while shooting makes up for a lot of that.

His benefits to the Jazz offense are undeniable. They score 1.05 points per possession when Hood is on the court, and just 1.00 PPP without him. And that ostensibly small gap is in fact massive — they’re the 10th-best offense with Hood, and the 27th-best without.

That said, Hood is not without his flaws, even offensively. He’s a weak shooter off the dribble, making only 31 percent of such threes. For a capable driver (4.4 drives per game), he never gets to the line. Shooting 4.1 FT’s per 100 possessions is untenable, especially considering how much of a deadeye he is once there (for reference, guys like Mirza Teletovic, Kelly Olynyk, and Frank Kaminsky all had higher FT rates).

Hood’s offense will be fine, even if he never develops a penchant for getting fouled. That’s the benefit of being an above-average shooter. His real concerns are on defense, where he’s a relative liability in Utah’s lockdown scheme.

He struggles against slick-handling guards, who can slither by him with a nice crossover. CJ McCollum is the archetype for that breed of two-guard, and he went gangbusters three times against Utah this season. Hood has yet to master the nuances of pick-and-roll defense, and McCollum punished him for it.

Of course, precious few wings are ace defenders by their sophomore season. Hood will improve with age, especially if he breaks some of his bad habits off-ball. Like many guys in this league, Hood takes a beat to exhale once his man passes the ball. That split-second is all someone like McCollum (or Klay Thompson) need to sprint away and get loose for a spot-up look.

Without elite length to compensate, Hood needs to lock in off-ball.

All that said, he’s a clear plus in the aggregate — and that doesn’t even factor in his contract. Rookie scale deals were always a bargain, and the rising cap has only magnified that. Hood’s going to make $1.4 million this year, less than one tenth of what Kent Bazemore will earn. With his precocious offensive game, Hood is one of the biggest bargains in the league.

He has legitimate All-Star upside, especially if he can become an adequate defender. Best of all, Hood is another name in a long list of homegrown Jazz talent. Snyder bet big on Hood to grow into a starting-caliber guard.

Turns out Hood might be far more than that.