Profiling Duke’s transfer from Mississippi State
Week Of: November 24 – November 30
Right now there is no prospect flying up the boards like Duke wing Rodney Hood. He entered the season with lofty expectations, but he’s been even better than expected so far and has established himself as one of the premier prospects for the 2014 NBA Draft. Now participating in his third year of college basketball, Hood has one of the smoothest games of any of the current prominent prospects.
One of the first things you notice about Rodney Hood is his lanky frame. Standing at 6’8” and weighing in at anywhere from 200-215 pounds instantly causes matchup problems. He also has good speed that allows him to get up and down the floor quickly. While he doesn’t possess elite athleticism Hood makes up for it with his overall offensive arsenal.
As a true freshman at Mississippi State Hood instantly burst onto the scene as one of the most exciting young players in the SEC, averaging 10.3 PPG (29th in the conference) and 5th for all freshmen. Hood shot 44.3% from the field (50.6% on two pointers, 36.4% on three pointers) and also reeled in 4.8 boards per contest. However this year at Duke Hood has completely taken his game to another level. Eight games in he’s averaging 20 PPG which is second in the ACC and he’s shooting 59.1% from beyond the arch.
One of the most impressive stats about Hood is the fact that he’s third in the ACC in field goals but only tenth in attempts, which speaks of a very efficient player. Overall Hood is second in the ACC in scoring, only behind teammate Jabari Parker. Most of Hood’s scoring comes off of jump shots. As a freshman at Mississippi State he struggled in catch-and-shoot situations from behind the three point line, but improved in that area this year. Hood’s most deadly offensive move when guarded remains a ball fake, one dribble pull up from midrange.
Scouts are still hungry to see if he’s primarily a jump shooter or if he has true ability to get to the rim. He didn’t much at Mississippi State, but he’s beginning to try to change that this year at Duke. Overall Hood is still just an average ball-handler and shot creator but he’s still a raw player and should be able to improve those areas of his game.
Another area for improvement is his on the floor game. For the most part Hood contributes nicely to his team’s ball movement. At Mississippi State Hood averaged 2.4 assists and just 1.1 turnovers per game per 40-minutes. However at Duke this year per-40 minutes he’s averaging 2.3 assists and 2.6 turnovers per contest. It’s important to remember though that it’s a very small sample size and Duke is asking him to do more this year such as driving to the rim and getting looks for other teammates; something he’s not particularly used to.
On the flip-side, one of the most promising improvements in Hood this year has been getting to the rim. As a freshman at Mississippi State Hood only averaged 1.6 free throw attempts per-40 minutes, but this year at Duke he’s getting 8.4 attempts per-40 minutes and he’s knocking down 81.8% of those attempts.
Defensively, Hood uses his size to his advantage. He possesses decent length and pretty good lateral quickness which he uses to stay in front of defenders effectively; he’s a very good one-on-one defender and is very difficult to get around.
Hood’s biggest weakness defensively revolves around his lack of intensity. He needs to improve at defending in screening situations. Sometimes when he gets screened he’ll give up on the play and completely take himself out of the resulting action.
There’s no doubt Hood is one of the most intriguing prospects in this draft. He has the ability to play multiple positions and his game is showing signs of making massive improvements this season at Duke. In just eight games he went from being considered a raw, late-first round pick to being projected to go in the top-10. He’s extremely exciting to watch and has star potential.
NBA Player Comparison: Danny Granger
Next Week’s Report: Noah Vonleh, FR, PF, Indiana
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