Utah Jazz Rank: Rodney Hood ranks 3rd

Rodney Hood has cracked the top 3 in our ranking of the Utah Jazz roster. The young shooting guard out of Duke is going into a contract year after news came out that an extension will not be agreed upon.

The Jazz coaching and management have put a lot of faith in Hood, hoping he will replace a good chunk of the scoring void left by a former player. Last year was a bit of a down year, as he struggled to stay on the court during the middle portion of the season.

Everyone is hoping that the early-season Hood is the real one. Much like Derrick Favors, he just was not the same player after he went down last year. He’s looked good so far in preseason, so it would seem that he is ready to go on Wednesday.

If the Jazz could get efficient scoring from him, and bump his total from 12 to 18+, it would go a long ways for the success of this season. They will need consistent shooting from him, rather than the on-again off-again career he has had so far. He’ll be given ample opportunity to prove that he is worth being considered the 3rd most valuable piece on this roster. I’d love to revisit this next year and laugh at the idea that he may not be.