Milwaukee Bucks: Grading Rodney Hood’s interesting one-year deal

How does Rodney Hood fit with the Milwaukee Bucks?

Similar to the Semi Ojeleye signing, Hood has a built-in role in the Bucks’  rotation already.

At 6-foot-8 and 208 pounds, Hood can slide right in to be Khris Middleton’s backup from day one (assuming he’s healthy). Hood has spent at least 66 percent of his minutes at small forward the last three seasons, giving the Bucks some much-needed depth on the wing.

He also likely fills the bench shooter role left vacant by Bryn Forbes. While streaky, Hood has had seasons of very high-level 3-point shooting. His best came two seasons ago, in 2019-20, where he shot 49.3 percent over 21 games with the Blazers before suffering an Achilles injury that wiped out the rest of his season. The Achilles injury would likely explain his drop-off to only a 30 percent 3-point shooter this past season, by far the worst mark of his career.

Prior to last season, Hood shot 37.2 percent for his career from 3 point range on 4.6 attempts per game. It seems unlikely Hood will get back to his 2019-20 form where he posted a staggering 62.5 percent true shooting and shot over 50 percent on 2 point field goals, albeit it came in a small sample size as he played in just 21 games. Yet, the hope that he can return to that form is what makes this an upside signing.

By most advanced defensive metrics, Hood is an average-to-below-average defender. At worst, he can provide a slightly more diverse scoring profile on the wing off the bench, something the Bucks have lacked for the last couple of seasons.