Rodney Hood throws down vicious dunk on opening night (Video)

Rodney Hood threw down a dunk that may be talked about for a while.

Utah Jazz forward Rodney Hood saw improvement from his rookie year to his sophomore campaign. He increased his points per game production from 8.7 to 14.5 in an expanded role with the team. This should continue to grow in his third season on a team full of young talent.

On Wednesday night, Hood began the season with against the Portland Trail Blazers. This was one of three games played on NBA’s opening night, along with the Cleveland Cavaliers vs. New York Knicks and Golden State Warriors vs. San Antonio Spurs. During the third quarter, the former Duke star would make a play that arguably out-shined anything that happened in the two national TV games. Small forward Joe Ingles made a bounce pass to Hood, who had a huge left-handed slam over a Blazers defender.

This highlight reel play can be seen below.

This is already a candidate for dunk of the year. Well, it’s not like there have been many of these in the first place through three games, but this is one that should be in the conversation later on. As for his team, the Jazz are looking to sneak into the playoffs after missing them last season. The Houston Rockets would edge them by one game to get the eighth seed. However, they lost to the 73-win Warriors.

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This time around, Utah’s youngsters will have more experience under their belts. So, players like Rodney Hood, Gordon Hayward, and Rudy Gobert could all take another step. Even Dante Exum could see growth after dealing with injuries. This should make the Jazz an intriguing team to watch throughout the 2016-17 season.