Rodney Hood, Sixth Man

The basketball gods continue to persecute the Utah Jazz for merely trying to put together a decent team. Not even a championship-caliber superteam, just a low-end, hardy playoff team.

Injuries, underwhelming play and heaven knows what else have kept the Jazz from being the team they hoped they would be at the start of the season. Despite that, I’m trying to be more positive than I was in the last downbeat I wrote.

Since he was benched in favor of Donovan Mitchell following Utah’s loss to the Philadelphia 76ers, Rodney Hood has been playing his best basketball of the season.

In the four games he’s played off the bench in November, Hood has averaged 21.0 points per game and is shooting 42.8 percent from deep. Against the Knicks, Hood led the team with 30 points.

Perhaps Hood will now be relegated to the Alec Burks (or Jamaal Crawford/Manu Ginobili) tier as a guy who is at his best coming off the bench

In other news, Ricky Rubio won’t be playing in today’s game against the Nets

The Cavaliers have seemingly turned their season around after a rough start. And it may have more to do with what they do off the court than on it.

Focus on travel, sleep, diet and all sorts of off-the-court health things have received much more emphasis in recent years as the science behind it becomes more and more clear. Perhaps the Jazz should re-think their road trip regimen because what they’re doing right now clearly isn’t working.

Jinglin Joe joined Zach Lowe for his podcast yesterday, covering a wide variety of topics, including many that have been discussed here on SLC Dunk. Give it a listen.

For those who are already beginning to celebrate “Tanks-giving” in honor of the Jazz. Here are some highlights from some of the more promising collegiate talents that Utah might target.