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When Rodney Hood fell to them at the 23rd pick last June, the Utah Jazz front office was elated to grab the sharpshooter from Duke.

Looking back on it all now, there may have been a few other teams that would have liked to grab Hood, too.

In NBA.com's annual survey of the league's general managers, Hood was voted the draft's biggest steal for where he was selected.

The Jazz rookie saw the news on Twitter this week, though he didn't seem overly impressed by it. "Of course, you don't get an award or nothing for that, but it's just good to know," he said.

1. Hood — 17.9 percent of GMs surveyed

2. Chicago's Doug McDermott, the 11th pick — 14.3 percent

3. San Antonio's Kyle Anderson, the 30th pick, and Minnesota's Zach LaVine, the 13th pick — 10.7 percent

5. Detroit's Spencer Dinwiddie (38), New York's Cleanthony Early (34), Denver's Gary Harris (19) and Chicago's Nikola Mirotic (the 23rd pick in 2011) — 7.1 percent

Hood's teammates and coach aren't too surprised by the results.

"Not really," Jazz forward Derrick Favors said. "I knew he could play. I knew he could shoot. I knew he was a good all-around player. Hopefully he is the steal of the draft."

Hood's shooting stroke was a known commodity coming into summer league, but Jazz coach Quin Snyder thinks his rookie has surprised some in other ways, including his ball-handling skills and his ability to play in the pick and roll.

"He's been efficient in more ways than just being a spot-up shooter," Snyder said. "We've had some success with him understanding some team concepts. I guess he learned some of that at Duke. I think he's ahead of where we thought he would be defensively. And he's got a pride in what he's doing defensively. I've challenged him to be more physical, especially on the boards. I think he's a player you can coach and challenge and he'll respond."

Not a bad early review for the 23rd overall pick.

On draft night, Hood was surprised to fall as far as he did. He had been projected to be no worse than a late lottery pick. In the run up the draft, Hood didn't work out for a team with a pick lower than 18, and that was only because Phoenix also owned the 14th pick. The Suns, whom Hood and the Jazz square off with tonight in the team's preseason finale, ended up using their picks on forward T.J. Warren and point guard Tyler Ennis.

But the kid from Mississippi isn't sweating any of that now.

"To be honest, that's far back in my mind right now," Hood said. "That seems like so long ago, the draft. I'm just focused on getting started with the season and trying to make my mark on the team."

Odds & Ends

• The Suns dual point-guard backcourt of Goran Dragic and Eric Bledsoe could provide some lessons for the Jazz, should they decide to play their own point guards, Trey Burke and Dante Exum, together. But Snyder knows the two teams' situations aren't entirely similar.

"Their point guards are so much more mature physically," the coach said. "I think Dragic is in his sixth or seventh year. He's older than everybody on our team. And then Bledsoe … would be one of the older guys on our team. To have a first-year guy and a rookie, I think they can help each other. But I think the physicality of their guards is what sets them apart."

• The Jazz are coming back from a weeklong road trip.

For any team, time away from the comforts of home can come with good and bad. Reflecting back on the week, Snyder said he was glad to see his team's energy in its first back-to-back and with his guys' ever increasing comfort level among each other.

And, oh yeah, one more positive.

"The hotel in OKC is supposed to be haunted," Snyder said. "So we all made it out of there in good shape."

• Looking for a couple prop bets?

One online sports book has set Favors' over/under numbers for the year at 14 points and 9.5 rebounds a game. The fifth-year forward likes the over.

"I'm a double-double this year," he said.

— Aaron Falk