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Rodney Hood and Raul Neto have started alongside one another in the Utah Jazz's backcourt for most of this season. But next month, the two guards will be in different jerseys.
Hood, the Jazz's second-year shooting guard, and Neto, the rookie point guard, were among the 20 NBA rookies and sophomores chosen to be a part of the Feb. 12 Rising Stars showcase during All-Star weekend. For a second year, the game will feature a squad of players from the United States and a squad of international players, meaning Hood, the Mississippi native, and Neto, the Brazilian national, will face off as foes for one night.
"We've already started talking to each other," Neto said, adding that he believed he could shut down Hood defensively. "I think it's going to be funny."
"Them foreigners, they talk a lot of trash. We'll see what happens," Hood said with a smile. "I'm gonna iso once we get matched up together."
Hood will join forces with former Duke teammate Jabari Parker and last year's No. 1 overall draft pick Karl-Anthony Towns. Neto's team will be headlined by Andrew Wiggins, of Canada, and Latvian sensation Kristaps Porzingis.
Hood is averaging 13.8 points and 3.2 rebounds per game in his second NBA season. The Brazilian Neto is averaging a modest 5.7 points and 2.3 assists per game as the Jazz's starting point guard, but the lack of international players at that position certainly helped his case.
Jazz rookie Trey Lyles, a member of the Canadian basketball program, could be considered a snub for the showcase, which will be held in Toronto, given his play over the last month or so. But the 20-year-old Lyles didn't make the cut.
"I would have liked to see Trey Lyles in there too," Jazz coach Quin Snyder said, calling the opportunity a "pure positive" for Hood and Neto. "I don't think he has as many minutes in the early part of the year, but I think people around the league know that he is playing well, too."
3-points of emphasis
Injuries have forced the Jazz to reinvent themselves more than once this season, and now they hope they won't have to do it again because of health.
Back in November, the Jazz hoisted up 20.8 3-pointers per game, putting them among the NBA's bottom 10 in attempts. But with multiple injured big men, the Jazz started to spread things out and, in January, they have averaged 25.5 shots from beyond the arc — putting them among the top 10 in the NBA in attempts for that stretch.
But with Derrick Favors and Rudy Gobert now back together in the lineup, there are questions about whether that is a sustainable practice.
"Clearly our spacing will be different because neither one of those guys are 3-point shooters," Snyder said. "But I think our guards have gotten more aggressive taking those shots and our spacing has really improved. Hopefully we'll continue to space."
He added, "We're going to try to keep taking them, that's for sure."
The Jazz had made 371 of their 1,032 attempts from 3-point territory heading into Wednesday night's game against the Charlotte Hornets, putting them on track to top franchise records (610 makes and 1,781 attempts) set only a season ago.
Honoring Hot Rod
A statue of the late "Hot Rod" Hundley will be unveiled at West Virginia University, his alma mater, next month, the school announced this week.
The life-sized statue of Hundley, who earned All-American honors as a member of the Mountaineers' squad in the 1950s, will be unveiled and dedicated on Feb. 20 before West Virginia takes on Oklahoma. The statue will be situated in front of the arena opposite a statue of another West Virginia great, Jerry West.
Hundley, who went on to play six seasons in the NBA and later called more than 3,000 games as the voice of the Utah Jazz, died last year at the age of 80.
Friendly fire
Neto was cleared to play Wednesday after suffering a concussion in Monday's loss to the Detroit Pistons. As it turns out, Neto's injury was a result of friendly fire: the point guard caught an inadvertent elbow from Gobert while trying to defend Detroit's Andre Drummond.
"He's really happy. He thinks he's tough because of that," Neto joked. "It happens. He didn't want to do that. So nothing we can do about it."
The point guard said he experienced dizziness after the incident Monday night, but by the following day he felt fine.
"Rudy needs to apologize to [Neto]," Snyder joked before adding, "He's like the last guy Rudy wants to hurt, because he throws him lobs."
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