How the Cleveland Cavaliers can get more from Rodney Hood

If the Cleveland Cavaliers want more from their offense, they need more from a few players. If they want more from Rodney Hood, they need to put him in position to be himself.

How can they do that? By increasing his usage.

When Rodney Hood was averaging a career-high 16.8 points per game with the Utah Jazz this season, he also had a career-high usage rate of 27.3 percent. However, when he was traded to the Cleveland Cavaliers, he had a usage rate of 18.3 percent, the lowest of his career. In the playoffs, his usage rate is at 17.6 percent.

His usage rate with the Cavaliers in the regular season led to him having the second-lowest scoring average of his career. His usage rate in the postseason has led to him having what’s the lowest scoring average he’s ever had, regular or postseason.

It would seem like common sense but the more a player that’s at their best with the ball in his hands actually has the ball, the better they’ll do. Unfortunately, the Cleveland Cavaliers aren’t operating with this logic.

His usage rate in the regular season ranked 10th among all players to suit up for the Cavs this season and 7th among the current players.

Players like Ante Zizic and John Holland, an end-of-the-bench and a two-way player, would finish with slightly higher usage rates than Hood.

In the postseason, Hood ranks 4th among the Cavs’ rotation players in usage rating as LeBron James has taken over even more playmaking responsibilities. Yet, even with the struggles of Kevin Love and the unavailability of George Hill, Hood isn’t being given free rein to be himself — one of Cavs head coach Tyronn Lue’s favorite directives.

This postseason, Hood is ranked 4th on the team in field goal percentage (44.4 percent), 5th in true shooting percentage (52.4 percent), 6th in points per game (6.4), 5th in points per 36 minutes (11.6), 5th in assist rate (10.5 percent), 6th in win shares per 48 minutes (0.25) and 6th in field goal attempts per game (5.4).

Two players that rank ahead of him in those various categories are the aforementioned Hill, who is suffering from back spasms after a mean screen set by Pacers big man Trevor Booker, and Love, who is struggling to free himself from the clamps of Pacers forward Thaddeus Young.

Love is shooting just 32.8 percent from the field (ranked 9th on the team) and has a true shooting percentage of 46.0 percent (ranked 7th on the team) but averages 11.6 field goal attempts per game (2nd-highest on the team) and has a usage rate of 21.3 percent (2nd-highest among rotation players).

His scoring average (11.8 points per game) is the 2nd-highest on the team and his points per 36 minutes average (12.3 points per game) is the 4th-highest on the team.

Yet, with his inefficiency, timidity and inability to take players off-the-dribble on a consistent basis, he just seems like a third option type of player this series. He’s at least a player that needs a player capable of being the second option beside him to release the pressure off of him.

More from Cavs Analysis

Looking at their previous season, Kyrie Irving managed to record the highest usage rate among rotation players with 30.8 percent and James was right behind him at 30.0 percent. Love’s usage rate stood at 26.4 percent.

The next highest usage rates after last season’s Big Three grouping belonged to Kay Felder (24.2 percent) and Channing Frye (19.3 percent). In the playoffs, James (31.6 percent), Irving (31.1 percent), Love (21.8 percent), Frye (18.8 percent) and Deron Williams (14.6 percent) had the five highest usage rating for the Cavaliers.

This season, James’ usage rate is at 31.6 percent and Love’s is at 25.1 percent. The next highest usage rates belong to Jordan Clarkson (24.1 percent) and Jeff Green (19.3 percent). James (34.1 percent), Love (21.3 percent), Hill (19.3 percent), Hood (17.6 percent) and Kyle Korver (17.1 percent) have the five highest usage rates in the postseason.

There’s should more than enough “ball to go around” for a player like Hood to get more playmaking opportunities.

He certainly shouldn’t have a higher usage rate than James and, in almost any other series, Love. Nonetheless, he’s definitely being underutilized.

Hood, a player who thrives in the pick-and-roll and on drives, has a slow methodical attack that’s not pretty and not anything that’s going to catch opponents off guard. Yet, that’s kind of what James is as a player.

If he’s not leading a break, he’ll slow down the pace and direct teammates to their spots. If he doesn’t go for the outside jumper, he’ll back down his man and go for a turnaround or try to get the step on his man for the spin and finish.

Hood isn’t nearly the athlete James is, nor an exceptional athlete in general. He doesn’t possess James’ brute strength. As a result, he’s not going to be physically dominant when he does back down a player. However, he feels out a players body when he makes that move and uses instincts, timing and his length (8-foot-7 standing reach) to get shots up over players.

A career 36.9 percent shooter from three who made 38.1 percent of his threes this season, Hood has been justifiably criticized for not making more of his three-point attempts. However, he’s just 2-10 from three-point range in this series though so the problem is being overblown. Smith is currently 9-32 from three-point range but hasn’t received the type of criticism of Hood because he’s played strong defense against Pacers leader Victor Oladipo.

If Hood makes just two more shots, he’s shooting 40.0 percent from three-point range.

Hood is a proven shooter, they (LeBron) just has to look for him.

This postseason, Hood has gotten just 5 three-point attempts off of James’ passes in five games. Considering how much James has the ball and Hood’s track record as a shooter, that’s unacceptable. He’s the quarterback.

Going back to how Love has struggled and Hood has outplayed him on offense, even in just a limited time, James doling out 57 passes to Love and just 29 passes to Hood this postseason is like shooting yourself in the foot for the love of sentimentality.

Furthermore, Hood has also played solid on the defensive end, constantly getting players to pick up their dribble and move the ball.

Though the statistics don’t reflect it, a wise man once said that the best way to judge a defender is by how often they get their opponent to pick up their dribble, not how many misses they force, steals they gather or blocks they record.

Unfortunately, there’s no stat for how many times you’ve made your man pick up his dribble. There are, however, stats that show Hood only gave up 0.75 points per possession on 46.2 percent shooting in isolation this season (80th percentile) and hasn’t surrendered a point in isolation in the playoffs.

He’s surrendering just 0.63 points per possession to pick-and-roll ball-handlers this postseason and hasn’t surrendered a point to spot-up shooters. In fact, his lone problem area this postseason has been defending players coming off of screens (2.25 points per possession) and considering the Cavaliers’ switch-heavy scheme, it’s difficult to assess why that is although it could simply be a lack of communication from the backline.

In terms of simple stats like steals though, Hood is averaging 1.1 steals per 36 minutes this postseason (5th on the Cavs). Hood is certainly an alert defender and has turned quite a few solid defensive possessions into instant offense.

Watch here as he reads the floor, seeing that his man, Wilson Chandler, is on the corner. Knowing that Chandler made just 30.5 percent of his threes from the corner, he feels comfortable cheating off of him and has put himself in position to steal the ball as Hill disrupts the pick-and-roll.

This has happened continuously in his Cavs tenure.

Ultimately, the real problem is that Hood needs to be more engaged in the offense rather than being utilized as a spot-up shooter from the corners (Korver, Smith, Clarkson, Jose Calderon) when there are quite a few other players who can be utilized in that role while he operates with the ball in his hands.

Hood also needs to get more shot attempts for him to establish his rhythm, as pretty much any player does. Averaging 5.4 field goal attempts per game, the lowest amount of shots he’s averaged going back as far as I could find, isn’t going to help him.

With James playing 41.6 minutes and taking 21.8 field goal attempts per game this postseason, holding Hood back isn’t going to help the King either.

This is a player who I believe has the potential to be James Harden-esque if used correctly and others see the similarities too.

MVP Hood isn’t who the Cavaliers need though and Hood has a ways to go before he completely realizes his potential. However, it’s fairly obvious that Hood can do more but just isn’t being given the freedom to.

Hood, who has been one of the Cavaliers best players on both ends, shouldn’t be 8th on the team this postseason with 19.8 minutes per game. His playing time and his usage in it both need to be within the top-five of the team.

*Unless otherwise referenced, stats gathered from www.basketball-reference.com

How the Cavs can get more from Rodney Hood

By Quenton S. Albertie | Apr 27, 2018

If the Cleveland Cavaliers want more from their offense, they need more from a few players. If they want more from Rodney Hood, they need to put him in position to be himself.

More from Cavs Analysis