TheScore- Rodney Hood has been DNP'd for five of Cleveland's 19 playoff games, and it would've been six had he not been thrown in for the final three seconds of Game 1 of the Finals. (But hey, at least Hood agreed to check in for mop-up duty that time.) He's averaging 4.6 points and 1.1 assists on .415/.158/.778 shooting in 14.5 minutes a game this postseason, and the Cavs have been 25.7 points per 100 possessions worse with him on the floor.
It's been a steep decline for Hood since coming over in a trade from the Utah Jazz, with whom he was averaging 16.8 points and shooting 39 percent from 3-point range on the year. Now, to avoid losing faith in himself, he goes back and watches tape of some of those pre-trade games. "At times when I may lose a little bit of confidence because of playing time or whatever, I look back to my Utah highlights a lot on YouTube just to remind myself that that was this (season) when I did those things," Hood told The Undefeated's Marc J. Spears. "I was playing at such a high clip when I got traded. And then, this is my first time having DNPs in life. The first time shooting two times or five times in a game. Having to adjust is the toughest part. It's a part of my growth. I'm not going to always be in this state." ------ If we're being totally honest , my gut reaction was commiserate with a professional athlete who is so far in his own head in regards to his struggles that he's running through YouTube videos that are mere months past their upload date to convince himself that he's something better than hopelessly awful. Unfortunately, as sad as that story is, it triggered me to remember that Rodney Hood burned the sympathy card that he's now trying to play the second he let his ego get in the way of him taking the floor in a playoff game weeks before he was set to become a free agent. It's not that he's not deserving of support, but it makes it a lot more difficult to offer it to him when his first instinct was selfish pride. The idea that an NBA player is spending what little free time the NBA Finals affords him to hole up and watch himself post 16 PPG for the playoff team that decided they didn't even need his offense despite losing their leading scorer for nothing last offseason is incredibly dark and depressing. On the "bright" side, however, at least we have our answer to the question that has undoubtedly crossed the mind of every person that has happened to catch the first two games of this series. Yes, Jordan Clarkson and J.R. Smith are somehow, someway currently more mentally equipped to give the Cavaliers meaningful minutes against the Warriors.
For, as much as their play can be perfectly personified by the above clip, they (presumably) aren't so far removed from being useful that they need an online refresher course on what made them relatively successful NBA players in the first place. Rodney Hood has already cost himself millions of dollars prior to this report. That said, letting the outside world know that he frequents games that happened within the same calendar year that we are currently in as a way of either summoning his skill set or properly self loathing can only be as good for his perception on the open market as being relegated to garbage time for a garbage team.
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