Rodney Hood may have had contract discussions with Houston Rockets
Could Cleveland Cavaliers restricted free agent Rodney Hood end up signing with the Houston Rockets?
According to cleveland.com’s Joe Vardon, Cleveland Cavaliers restricted free agent Rodney Hood may have held contract discussions with the Houston Rockets.
Quote transcribed by the HoopsHype staff:
"“There’s been reports of some discussions between the Kings and Rodney, and maybe the Rockets and Rodney…”"
The Sacramento Kings’ interest in Hood has been long known and, after the Kings missed out on Chicago Bulls shooting guard Zach Lavine in free agency, Hood now seems to be their top target. The Rockets’ interest in Hood, however, comes as a surprise.
For the un-indoctrinated, the Rockets — led by 2017-2018 MVP James Harden and future Hall-of-Famer Chris Paul — finished last season with the league’s top record (65-17).
A Western Conference superpower that had the Golden State Warriors on the brink of elimination in the Western Conference Finals, the Rockets’ interest in Hood could be a way of replacing small forward Trevor Ariza, a staple of the Rockets offense who signed a lucrative one-year contract with the Phoenix Suns.
Ariza was largely a spot-up option for the Rockets but was allowed to, and showed enough playmaking ability to, make a number of plays off-the-bounce. Hood, though a player who prefers playing with the ball in his hands, can function in a role similar to the one Ariza had in Houston.
It could also be their way of countering the Warriors’ signing of DeMarcus Cousins, a big man who is coming off an Achilles tear but is as elite as they come in the NBA.
While the Cavaliers couldn’t figure out how to get Hood enough touches, the Rockets — behind head coach Mike D’Antoni, an offensive mastermind — should have a much easier time. Especially with the high volume of assists gathered by their top two playmakers, Paul and Harden (16.7 assists per game combined last season).
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Hood averaged 14.7 points per game last season (while shooting 38.1 percent from three) despite having an up-and-down year. With the Rockets, there’s a good chance he can approach — or surpass — the scoring average he held with the Utah Jazz prior to the trade deadline, a would-be career-high of 16.8 points per game.
That’s especially true if Paul (now 33-years-old) and Harden (who averaged 30.4 points per game last season) feel comfortable taking a small step back as scorers to let Hood — a better scorer off-the-bounce than Ariza — have a bigger role.
In comparison to Hood’s averages for the 2017-2018 season, Ariza averaged 11.7 points per game (while shooting 36.8 percent from three) for the Rockets in 67 games.
Unfortunately (for the Rockets), they can only offer Hood their taxpayer’s mid-level exception of $5.3 million. Hood’s signing of an offer sheet with the Rockets would likely only happen if he didn’t have any better offers or chose to sacrifice money for an important role on a championship-contender (the lack of a state tax in Texas could alleviate some of his concerns about the value of his contract).
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*All stats gathered from www.basketball-reference.com