Rodney Hood was perhaps the most celebrated addition the Cleveland Cavaliers made at this year's trade deadline, but waning confidence and increasingly ineffectual play have gotten him bounced from the Cavs' rotation.
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."
Hood suggested the expectations that come with playing on a team with LeBron James have been particularly difficult to adjust to.
"You lose a game and you feel like the world is coming down," he said. "You win, it's like, you're supposed to win. It's still a struggle to me to adapt to that."
Cavs head coach Tyronn Lue isn't giving up on Hood yet, and suggested the embattled shooting guard will get a chance to prove himself before the Finals are over.
Hood says he'll be ready if and when that opportunity arrives.
"Whether I get out there for five minutes, three minutes or 20 minutes, I have to be who I am," he said. "I can't ease my way into the game and let the game come to me. As soon as I check into the game, I have to go after it. That's something (Lue) and I talked about going back to the Indiana series and really since I've been here. That's something I'm looking forward to if my number gets called."
