A Royal Prospect: Buddy Hield
By Rafe Wong
A Royal Pain continues its series on analyzing players in this upcoming draft and seeing how they would fit if they were selected by the Sacramento Kings.
Today’s prospect will be Buddy Hield out of the University of Oklahoma.
The Statistics
More from Kings News
- 3 Ways Chris Duarte improves the Kings chances in 2023-24
- Bleacher Report crazily lists Kings’ All-Star as “most overrated NBA player”
- Kings and Heat fans clash on Twitter to debate All-Star players
- Sacramento Kings’ Chris Duarte playing in 2023 FIBA World Cup
- 3 Young players the Kings must develop, 2 to give up on
For Hield, the 6’4” guard that weighs 209 pounds has spent the last four years playing for the Oklahoma Sooners.
During that span, Hield averaged 17.4 points and 5 rebounds per game. He also recorded a career field-goal percentage of 44.8% and a three-point percentage of 39%.
In his recent season with the Sooner, Hield averaged 25 points and 5.7 rebounds per contest while shooting 50.1% from the floor and 45.7% from the perimeter.
The Range
According to various mock drafts, Hield is projected to be selected around the #5-7 range in the draft order. If the Kings are interested in acquiring Hield in this draft, it might take some luck in order to grab him. Another avenue is that Kings can trade up in the order as well, but would mostly have to give up valuable assets.
The Fit
If the Kings were to draft Hield next week it might improve the Kings dramatically. The weakest link in the Kings depth chart this season was the shooting guard position because players couldn’t hit their jump shots consistently.
Hield proved this collegiate season that he has the ability to make shots at a high rate by recording a 3P% of 45.7%. He has a great chance going into training camp to compete for the starting two-guard spot, and if he replicates his stroke from this season to the professional level there is an incredibly high chance he will start on opening night.
He will however on the defensive side struggle, which doesn’t help the Kings at all. On defense, Hield can only guard shooting guards as he is too slow to guard point guards and too small to guard small forwards, which makes him very limited. Hield also struggled to guard players that penetrated to the rim as well, which was a major weakness that the Kings perimeter defense faced this season.
Overall, Hield most likely will help the Kings offensively with his ability to put the ball in the bucket, but on the defensive end, he needs to improve to help the Kings.
Express Yourself
So Kings fans, how serious should the Kings be in drafting Buddy Hield in this upcoming draft? To express your opinion on the issue, feel free to participate in our survey that is currently up on our Twitter account.
How serious should the Sacramento Kings be in drafting Buddy Hield?
— A Royal Pain (@ARoyalPain) June 18, 2016
Rafe’s Thoughts
If Buddy Hield is available for the Kings at #8, it’s a no-brainer that the Kings should select him. Most likely, he will be the best available player at that spot anyways.
Hield showed this season that he can make jump shots with ease, no matter what the situation was, which would help immensely when DeMarcus Cousins is double-teamed in the paint and needs to kick it out to a player on the perimeter.
More from A Royal Pain
- 3 Ways Chris Duarte improves the Kings chances in 2023-24
- 5 Players the Sacramento Kings never should have signed
- Bleacher Report crazily lists Kings’ All-Star as “most overrated NBA player”
- Kings and Heat fans clash on Twitter to debate All-Star players
- Sacramento Kings’ Chris Duarte playing in 2023 FIBA World Cup
Hield also is versatile offensively, as he showed this season with the Sooners that he has improved his ball-handling skills which helped improved his ability to slash to the rim.
Defensively, Hield will have a hard time adjusting to the speed and strength at the professional level, but Hield is known to have an incredible work ethic which is a valuable trait when evaluating prospects.
He did show effort when defending in college, it was his fundamental that were off. So if Hield makes it a goal of his to improve as a defender going forward, he should be alright.
Bottom line, if Hield is available for the Kings at #8, take him.
Rafe’s Comparison: James Harden