Hood has a solid feel for the game, as he rarely turns the ball over (10% turnover rate), and posted the third best PPR among small forwards in our Top-100. He's unselfish, sees the floor well, and executes offensively in the half-court, which his next coach will certainly appreciate. Hood is generally an efficient player offensively, as he takes what the defense gives him and rarely looks out of control. He's a solid straight-line ball-handler, particularly attacking closeouts, but was also given some ball-handling responsibilities in the half-court. Duke relied primarily on small-ball lineups this year, with Hood seeing a good amount of minutes at the power forward position, where he can be very effective as a mismatch threat against slower collegiate big men, particularly with the terrific spacing his team displayed. 32.5% of his offense came off isolation plays and on the pick and roll, even if it remains to be seen how much of a shot-creator he'll be in the NBA when he's asked to move down one or two positions and is guarded by legit wing defenders.
Hood's biggest weakness as a NBA prospect likely revolves around his defense, as he shows questionable intensity on this end of the floor, rarely getting into an actual stance and frequently being knocked off balance and taken advantage of off the dribble due to his lack of strength. His relatively short arms don't do him any favors here, as he measured just a 6-8 wingspan on a few occasions, which is accurately reflected in his inability to generate steals (.9 per-40), blocks (.3) or rebounds (4.9), all of which rank among the worst rates in the draft at his position. Hood has decent lateral quickness, so he could end up becoming at least adequate in this area, but he'll have to improve his motor and hustle quite a bit and also get stronger and tougher, as he allows himself to get pushed around without resistance more than you'd hope. This shows up on the offensive end as well, as he tends to shy away from contact somewhat around the basket, and doesn't get to the free throw line at a very high rate. His very low 2-point percentage (49%) doesn't inspire a great deal of confidence in his ability to develop into a high volume shot-creator inside the arc at the NBA level, as he's not a terribly advanced ball-handler and avoids finishing around the basket with his right hand like the plague.
Hood's ability to space the floor with his terrific jump-shot is certainly a coveted asset in today's NBA, but there are some question marks about what else he can contribute immediately besides that. Although he's only played two years of college basketball, he's not particularly young relative to this draft class—he will turn 22 right before his NBA rookie season starts-- so it remains to be seen how much upside he still has at the same time. Hood is currently the fifth oldest player currently projected to be drafted in the first round, only one of whom (McDermott) is slated to be picked in the top-20.
How about you? What do you think? Does this guy have the goods to be a sleeper pick in the NBA Draft? See what the folks of +DraftExpress have to say and always keep up with all 30 +NBA teams right here on +Slap Dog Hoops. Be sure to stay tuned to SDH in the coming weeks as I will be recapping, reviewing and ranking the performances of all thirty teams in the Association in my Worst to First Countdown.
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