Buddy Hield has work to do, but he’s stepping up with Sacramento Kings
Buddy Hield’s rookie season hasn’t always been easy, but he’s starting to find his stride in Sacramento.
Most NBA fans want to see Buddy Hield succeed. Scoring is fun and his name is Buddy; you could have a soft spot for him based on that alone. His work ethic has always been praised during his time at Oklahoma and yet again in the NBA as he hopes to prove himself, to show the world that he’s more than just a great college shooter.
Well, he hasn’t shown he’s made of a wide-range of skills, but there’s no doubt that Hield has been a pleasant surprise since arriving in Sacramento as the Kings’ biggest reward in the DeMarcus Cousins trade. As much as you may doubt his potential as a rookie whose impact is based on shooting and little else, and who is even older than Giannis Antetokounmpo, he’s been good for the Kings.
It’s refreshing to see Hield look so comfortable in Sacramento, especially when considering how much pressure he has on his shoulders. As the main return from the Cousins trade and the man that Kings owner Vivek Ranadive has anointed as “Stephen Curry 2.0”, responsible for breaking a trend of the team’s disappointing shooting guards (from Jimmer Fredette to Ben McLemore to Nik Stauskas), Hield faces a lot of scrutiny going forward.
Yet, with an average of 14.4 points in 21 games (14 starts) with the Kings so far, including 48.5 percent shooting and a 43.4 percent three-point shot (2.3 makes a night), he couldn’t have done much better.
He’s been asked to do more. Hield has run pick-and-rolls on 20 percent of his plays with the Kings to score a terrific 1.09 points per possession, which would be good enough to rank in the 96th percentile. That’s brilliant, and while Hield obviously isn’t one of the best pick-and-roll maestros in the league, this does hint at the success he’s found early on and what he’ll try to do in the future; he’s been scoring half the time when coming off the pick-and-roll, shooting 61 percent on 2.1 such shots per game.
So, no matter how impossible it is that such numbers could last over a full season, Hield has at least shown that he could be better when given more opportunity. When comparing a few of his numbers in New Orleans to now, it’s clear the change of scenery in Sacramento has served him incredibly well so far:
New Orleans:
True Shooting Percentage — 50.2
Points Per Game — 8.6
PER — 9.9
Offensive Box Plus/Minus — -1.9
Sacramento:
True Shooting Percentage — 61.5
Points Per Game — 14.4
PER — 15.3
Offensive Box Plus/Minus — 0.8
It’ll be tough to maintain such efficiency next season, but Kings fans can feel encouraged that they’ve seen Hield take a few steps in the right direction.
He’s looking more comfortable picking his spots on the floor and manoeuvring through defenses to find space off the dribble, giving him more success when taking the ball inside the arc to bury quick pull-ups or floaters.
Then, Hield has had highlight moments like this for the Kings, a six-points-in-nine-seconds spell of madness as he helped execute an 18-point comeback in the last five minutes to defeat the LA Clippers.
With the ball in his hands more, though, and a slight usage rate increase to 22.4, it’s expected that not everything would go smoothly for Hield. Of course, he’s only a rookie. It’s expected he gets some leeway for having more turnovers than assists. This is especially the case for Hield, as he arrived in this league to be a scorer that could grow into a better facilitator, rather than the other way around. 1.7 assists to 2.1 turnovers per game in Sacramento isn’t pretty.
It’s that type of limitation as a passer and ball handler that made Denver Nuggets rookie Jamal Murray worthy of a higher pick in the lottery, and partly why he’s been able to show so many offensive flashes of star potential. Murray is a scorer at heart, though. And while he was drafted as a combo guard with more ball handling ability, that was still the area of his game he needed to work on. Nevertheless, he’s recorded 1.8 assists to 1.3 assists per game. Hield just doesn’t have that kind of ball control for long spells in his arsenal yet, even if he’s able to work pretty effectively when operating around high screens as a scorer.
On top of that, there’s Hield’s defense. As difficult as it is for most rookies to play solid defense, he just doesn’t have amazing quickness or length to offer much potential at that end of the floor.
Then, of course, there’s Hield’s ability to create, which still needs some work. His handle will need tightening up going forward to help his ability to avoid turnovers in traffic and find more success getting to spots off the dribble, not to mention increase his free throw rate. James Harden can do so, so much offensively, but no matter how boring some may find his free throw barrage, the way he draws so many fouls is an art and it allows him to create scoring opportunities from nothing, especially when his shot isn’t falling. This season, Hield has recorded a mere 0.9 attempts per game, still only increasing to 1.7 with a higher usage in Sacramento.
Sorry about the negativity there, Kings fans. It’s just the unfortunate truth that for all of Hield’s skill as a shooter and potential to improve offensively (he’s still a rookie, albeit an old one), he’s limited.
Nevertheless, what he’s done in Sacramento so far is admirable. Plus, there’s always value for a great shooter in the NBA, particularly ones that can create a little, too, which Hield will hopefully continue becoming more adept at as he gets used to NBA defenses.
That won’t be easy, but he can shoot, he’s confident, he’s done a little more when moving with the ball, he’s created more for himself, he hasn’t shied away from the opportunity whatsoever, and he’s off to a better start with his new team than most of us expected.
So far, he’s played well. Hopefully this is just the start of a career that will slowly prove the doubt wrong.
All statistics courtesy of Basketball Reference and NBA.com.
