Summer League Report Card: Buddy Hield

With the Sacramento Kings’ summer league campaign officially over, we here at A Royal Pain will give individual grades to the players on the team. This article will be analyzing Buddy Hield.

The Player

Buddy Hield was with the New Orleans Pelicans going into last season but was part of a blockbuster trade which sent him to the Sacramento Kings later in the year.

In Hield’s short time so far with the Kings, he has been exceptional as he was one of the more efficient scorers on the team’s roster last season.

Due to a solid rookie campaign, there were high expectations for Buddy to live up to for this year’s summer league. Let’s check out how he performed.

Pros

A positive from Buddy this summer was that he was a volume scorer. Through the three games Buddy participated in, he averaged 16.7 points per game. Hield also grabbed 3.7 rebounds and dished 1 assist per match as well.

Due to his reputation as an effective scorer, Hield was given a lot of touches to get points on the board for his team, and as a result, he was one of the top scorers for the Kings when their summer league concluded.

Buddy’s performance against the Los Angeles Lakers was his best outing, in my opinion, as he went off for 22 points.

Cons

Although Buddy was one the top scorers for the Kings this summer, his scoring efficiency wasn’t anything to brag about. Yes, Hield averaged over 16 points a contest, but he also recorded shooting percentages of just 35.6% from the floor and 35% from beyond the perimeter.

Due to a mix of missing open shots and having bad shot selection, Hield wasn’t able to be as effective of a scorer as the Kings hoped he would be. Hield also wasn’t much of an asset on the defensive end as he failed to close on shooters numerous times.

Final Thoughts

Overall, Hield failed to meet his potential this summer, but this is due to the high expectations fans had towards him. Despite being a top scorer for his team, Buddy wasn’t as elite of a shooter as fans hoped he would be. Hield also wasn’t great on the defensive end as well. Hopefully, Buddy’s summer league outing isn’t a translation of how he performs on the court during the regular season, but instead, just rust that he needed to get off.