Daddy 801 wrote:KqWIN wrote:stitches wrote:Yes, he's been one of the best players in the league with on-ball offense since the moment he entered the league. That's isolations, postups and as a PnR ballhandler. Last year his iso-numbers dropped a bit, but overall he's been incredible in all of those for the duration of his career. The last couple of years the only player that was as good as him in all of those purely efficiency-wise was Kawhi.
He still can't be a lead guy until he can find easy baskets. That's the key. You can't live off of tough shots, it's essentially the same argument as long 2's versus layups and threes.
The way I see Hood being effective is very similar to JJ in the post-ish area. He backs him man down and gets that little floater. And Quins plan works well with Hood doing this because it's all about matchups. The problem is that the main defender is going to go to Hood and not Hayward now. So, I hope Ingles is also practicing the ISO with the smaller player. Because whomever has the smaller "sg" guarding either Ingles or Hood will get the ISO after the screens. If either Ingles or Hood struggle it's going to be an issue. It's also important Donovan and Exum are ready for that role with the 2nd/1.5 unit.
I'd love to see the stats, but in my head all I see Hood doing is spot up shooting or ISO at the top the key and backing his man down.
He rarely took the ball and just went to work as in driving or making a play ala Harden, Hayward, Bron, or a million other playmakers. Sent from my iPhone using
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He's going to have to do that, or he's going to have a tough time being efficient. Those guys all make tough shots, but they're also getting a good amount of dunks, layups, and free throws every game. Joe was successful without doing that, but it's very rare and he's also strong as hell. Joe is a bully in the post, and that isn't how Hood plays.
I don't see him being a very effective post player, especially at the level of Joe Johnson. That's not been a large part of his game so far and he won't have the strength advantage. Like you said, he's going to go against the tougher defender now. The one area where I can see him being special is shooting the three off the dribble. Taking a 3 off the high PnR is almost unguardable and has become a cheap way to earn 3 FT's.
The one guy off the top of my head who can really score in today's game without getting shots at the rim is McCollum. His mid range game is simply at another level to Hood or anyone else in the league. You just don't find good scorers low FT and Rim rate.
If I were to bring up one guy that he could mimick, it would be Brad Beal. Their career stories are somewhat similar, the difference being that Beal broke out. Like Hood, Beal was a guy who looked better than he actually was. He was making tough shots in the midrange, but never could find consistency with his game or health. Last year was his year. He started to move away from that mid range game and started taking more three's and getting to line. He diversified his game and made his 3 ball the main point of attack. I think Hood has the talent to get there, but the first thing that has to come is health. Then he has to have the confidence. Beal always thought he was going to be this good, I'm not sure Hood feels the same way about himself.
