Sacramento Kings: 3 Players Who Need A Breakout Season

Buddy Hield

Buddy Hield has been a pleasant surprise for Kings fans since he arrived from the DeMarcus Cousins trade. Many fans hoped Buddy would eventually mold into a solid spot-up shooter for their team, and after his first full season in Sacramento, he has already exceeded that expectation.

Now that there is the belief that Buddy can become a volume scorer, what is the best way for him to reach that goal? In my opinion, it has to begin with his ball-handling skills.

Although Buddy is great at shooting the basketball, he is a much better shooter when being set up by his teammates rather than creating his own shot. Last season, Buddy made 58.2% of his field goals when being assisted and only 41.8% of his shots when unassisted. He also made a whopping 77.3% of his three-pointers when receiving help and made just 22.7% of his threes without help.

In my opinion, the reason for those numbers is due to his lack of dribbling. Although Buddy is not terrible at handling the basketball, he definitely does not have the handles to create his own shot effectively.

I am not expecting Buddy to have the ball-handling skills of a Stephen Curry or Kyrie Irving, although I would not be against it. But instead, I would like to see Buddy make at least a gradual improvement in his dribbling skills. If he is able to become better at handling the ball, it will open up the opportunity for him to become the Kings’ leading scorer not just for this season, but going forward.

Based on Buddy’s offseason workouts, improving his dribbling looks to be the main priority for him.