Milwaukee Bucks: Where does Rodney Hood fit into the rotation?

One of the silver linings to come out of the Milwaukee Bucks‘ early injury woes is that the role players are getting to show more of their skillsets and getting to play bigger roles than was initially expected. Getting them more reps in bigger roles will pay off down the line, but the most interesting situation is that of Rodney Hood.

Hood was someone who was seen as an underrated signing by the Bucks. He was coming off of an injury recovery season after suffering a torn Achilles with the Portland Trail Blazers. He never really looked the same as his strong start to the 2019-20 season but had the chance to get back on track as a bench scorer with the defending champs.

Hood has played six games now for the Bucks after missing all of the preseason and the first three games of the regular season. He has seen relatively inconsistent minutes, sometimes playing under 11 minutes per game but also seeing nearly 20 minutes against the Minnesota Timberwolves.

It has been a bit uneven in terms of his minutes, but there is an opportunity here for Hood to earn a solid role when everyone is healthy.

Where does Rodney Hood fit into the Milwaukee Bucks rotation once everyone is healthy?

In the last three games that Khris Middleton has missed, Hood has played 11 minutes against the San Antonio Spurs, 17 minutes against the Detroit Pistons, and 16 and a half minutes against the New York Knicks. It has been interesting to see his minutes, and role, fluctuate against different opponents as I thought he’d have a more consistent role with Middleton out and a need for more offense.

His offense has been there, for the most part, hitting a 3 in all but one of his games so far. But by a certain traditional percentage, you’d think Hood is struggling mightily.

If you didn’t already view field goal percentage as an outdated stat, then Hood would be the best example of it. In his small sample, Hood is shooting 6-of-22 from the field (27.3 percent) but is 6-of-17 on 3s (41.7 percent). It’s very early so these are numbers that can happen in such a small sample as hitting his next three shots would put him up to around 36 percent.

Hood has never really had this type of role as a catch-and-shoot guy in his career before, with over 77 percent of his attempts coming from 3-point range and over seven 3-point attempts a night per 36 minutes. It’s unlikely that he continues to take that many 3s as his career-high 3-point rate before this was around 46 percent with the Utah Jazz in 2015-16.

I thought we’d get to see a bit more of Hood creating his own offense, especially without Middleton, but he’s only had two games with a usage rate above 15 percent. The Hood signing was especially interesting to me because, while he is a good 3-point shooter off the catch, he is also very capable of creating off the dribble.

We saw this for a brief stretch during the game against the Timberwolves late in the first quarter. Hood was given the keys to the second unit as a ball-handler and got a couple of chances to run the pick-and-roll. The biggest highlight was this little pocket pass to Thanasis Antetokounmpo for a dunk and that underscores what Hood can bring to the Bucks in a more expanded role.

Sure, they don’t need to have him run the offense a lot but especially with their lack of offense in these last few games, Hood is someone who should be getting more touches. However, he is still proving to be useful as a catch-and-shoot type as well.

So when the Bucks have their full complement of players back, where does Hood fit in? He is still competing with Jordan Nwora for reserve wing minutes and although Nwora hasn’t played as well as we thought he would on offense, his defense has been much better than anticipated.

If head coach Mike Budenholzer trusts Nwora more defensively than Hood, it isn’t a great sign for the veteran. However, he is still shooting the ball very well and there is always room in a Budenholzer rotation for a shooter.

Once Middleton returns, that’s going to take minutes and touches from Hood. However, what I have found interesting is that Hood’s minutes have been spread across three positions, and around a quarter of his minutes have come at power forward. That could make it very interesting if Semi Ojeleye continues to struggle from 3 or if the Bucks want to give those Giannis-at-center lineups maximum spacing.

It’s good to see Budenholzer trying Hood in a variety of roles, but I would like to see him get more on-ball creation opportunities. It’s not something the Bucks have had off the bench since Budenholzer became head coach and it’s an element that could prove useful in the playoffs.

We know the Bucks like to use the regular season for two things: rest and experimentation. It’s time to experiment with Hood as an on-ball scorer a bit more to better get a sense of what he can bring to the rotation when it’s fully available.

Hood is one of the more interesting players on the roster and I hope he’s able to find a solid role now that he is healthy.