Cleveland Cavaliers: Rodney Hood should play vs Detroit if he’s healthier

The Cleveland Cavaliers have their last preseason game against the Detroit Pistons Friday night, and guard Rodney Hood should get some run in that one if he’s not too hampered.

The Cleveland Cavaliers start the regular season Wednesday night against the Toronto Raptors on the road. That will be a tough test for Cleveland’s new-look rotation, and this last preseason game should be used to get some of the younger players in rhythm. Rodney Hood is one of those guys, and if his left ankle soreness (per Cleveland.com’s Joe Vardon) is in better shape, he should play a quarter against the Detroit Pistons.

Hood is a really talented player, as he was discussed often here at KJG. He didn’t perform how he and the Cavaliers wanted him to after coming over via trade from the Utah Jazz at the trade deadline last year, but it’s a new season. Hood is a player that is a gifted shooter that can fill it up with or without the ball primarily in his hands.

We’ve heard it all before. Her career per game statistics read as follows: he’s averaged 13.0 points per game, and has a 36.9 percent three-point hit rate on 5.1 attempts, per Basketball Reference.

The reason there is so much promise for Hood is that he’s still only 25, he is a mismatch as mostly a 6-foot-8 shooting guard and as noted, he can be an effective scorer in both assisted or unassisted situations. It’s only preseason, which doesn’t matter, but Hood has not gotten into a rhythm in game scenarios, yet.

In the first two preseason games against the Boston Celtics, he averaged 7.0 points and 2.0 rebounds in 18.8 rebounds per game, per NBA.com. The issue is he shot just 27.3 percent in his minutes, which is the fourth-lowest shooting percentage on the team.

He’s shot more effectively than Levi Randolph (who Cleveland just cut, per Cleveland.com’s Chris Fedor), a struggling George Hill and rookie two-way player Billy Preston. His injury could be part of the reason for that, but it’s not as if he looked really hobbled against the Celtics.

He didn’t play against the Indiana Pacers in a 111-102 loss Monday night, so playing a bit tomorrow against the Detroit Pistons would be a good move. Hood is a shooter, and not playing in live game action for over a week going into the season doesn’t seem like a feasible way for him to get into a good rhythm.

If he’s not in awful shape, getting a bit of run would be beneficial.

The Raptors are a good defensive team who had the fifth-best defensive rating in the league last season. In the offseason, they added really good perimeter defenders in Kawhi Leonard and Danny Green, and Hood could be guarded by those players in stretches Wednesday.

It would be nice to see Cleveland feature Hood in the first quarter in pick-and-rolls, and try to get him some mismatches against bigs or in the post against smaller guards. He’ll need to shoot some pull-up threes this year as well, and in this last preseason game, he should get a few chances in transition for those quick shots.

With Hood betting on himself and head coach Tyronn Lue wanting to see Hood develop into Cleveland’s number two option this season, getting up more shots in live action, even if it’s for a quarter, is not a bad thing.

He’s playing this year reportedly hoping for a big contract after next season from the Cavs and if he has a career year, it could be one reason Cleveland makes the playoffs, so it starts with  Hood going into the regular season with momentum.

Cedi Osman looking good as one of Cleveland’s primary playmakers and especially passers going into the year, but like Hood, Osman is dealing with ankle soreness (per Cleveland.com’s Joe Vardon).

He’s looked solid, though, and Hood should get more of a chance to make plays in the early going.

Moreover, if Hood can play a quarter or so and get in some rhythm going into the regular season in live action, it’d be a positive for him mentally.

Lue should see if he’s fine and if he is, let Hood run some offense and make some plays. He’s one of the Cleveland Cavaliers’ most important players this year.