Utah Jazz: Rodney Hood OUT for Tonight’s Contest Against Nets

The Utah Jazz will be without their starting shooting guard Rodney Hood once again tonight and given his struggles so far this season, one can’t help but wonder what his long-term future may be with this Jazz team.

For the second straight game, the Utah Jazz will once again be without the services of starting shooting guard Rodney Hood. After hyperextending his knee back in the game against the Orlando Magic on January 14th, Hood played in just three games before re-tweaking it in the contest against Milwaukee on February 1st.

He then returned after the All-Star break, supposedly in shipshape condition, however he sported a knee brace and certainly looked rusty in Utah’s first set of games. Hood went 1-of-9 for three points in 21 minutes in the first game and 2-of-7 for 11 points in 27 minutes in the second.

In that third contest following the break against Oklahoma City, Hood began to look much more like himself as he went 6-of-13 from the field including 3-of-6 from deep to finish with 18 points in a hefty 31 minutes. Optimism was high that at that point, the Rodney Hood of old would be back to excelling for the Jazz sooner rather than later.

However, unfortunately Hood obviously wasn’t as right as he looked in the loss to the Thunder as he has since missed Utah’s last two games.

Rodney Hood was first a late scratch from the game against Minnesota with soreness in his formerly injured knee and has been reported as “out” again for tonight’s contest for the same reason. One has to wonder if perhaps the Jazz need to let their starting shooting guard sit out for an extended period of time to truly get back healthy again.

Whatever their decision ends up being though, it’s clear that the injury woes for the Jazz, and particularly for Rodney Hood, are far from over. It’s unfortunate, because when Hood is playing well, it drastically improves Utah’s offense that otherwise has tended to go a little stagnant at times.

Yet, in reality whether he’s been healthy or not, Hood has been extremely inconsistent for the Jazz this year.

Between his inability to be an effective driver and his tendency to make bad decisions on both ends of the floor, including poor shot selection and unnecessarily brainless fouls in transition (such as the one below that sent me over the edge), Hood’s volatility has certainly been a cause for distress for the Jazz this season.

Throw in his apparent fragility and seemingly endless struggle with injuries this year, and with the Utah Jazz facing some tough financial decisions both this offseason and following the 2017-18 season, Hood may find himself turning into too much of a liability to ultimately be locked down long-term for the Jazz.

That may be getting ahead of myself somewhat, but the fact of the matter is that Utah needs Hood to get healthy and then step up in a big way if they’re going to be able to compete in the necessary way for them to have any kind of success in the playoffs.

But that rise to proficiency will have to wait as the Jazz will be without Hood once again tonight against the Brooklyn Nets. Given that the Nets are currently the worst team in the league, hopefully the move is more of a precautionary, rest-related kind of move, which I could very well see being the case.

More from The J-Notes

• With the FIBA World Cup over for Simone Fontecchio, it’s clear he deserves minutes for the Utah Jazz
• Best, Worst and Most likely scenarios for the Utah Jazz this season
• Hoops Hype downplays the significance of the Utah Jazz’s valuable assets
• 3 Utah Jazz players who have the most to gain or lose this season
• Former Utah Jazz forward Rudy Gay is a free agent still and it shouldn’t surprise anyone

Ideally, after getting that proper rest, Hood will be ready to go sooner rather than later and be able to shake off his apparent rust to become a vital part of the Jazz offense for the daunting stretch they have just around the corner where they’ll take on seven straight playoff teams.

There’s no questioning that the Jazz are a better team when Hood is healthy and playing at a high level, but he’s got a ways to go to become that reliably consistent contributor the team needs and has a lot to prove if he truly hopes to figure into the Jazz’s long-term plans at the starting shooting guard spot.

All stats courtesy of NBA.com