An early-February trade last season sent Rodney Hood from the struggling Cleveland Cavaliers to the playoff-contending Portland Trail Blazers. Hood’s half-season with Portland was up-and-down as he had to figure out how to fit in with the team’s established pecking order. Not only were there defined leading scorers in Damian Lillard, CJ McCollum and Jusuf Nurkic, but Hood also faced competition on the wing with Al-Farouq Aminu, Moe Harkless, Jake Layman and Evan Turner.
Fast-forward a couple of months and things are radically different.