The Buddy Hield Report

"We may not have a lot of things, but it's enough." A phrase that Buddy Hield heard many times when he was a kid from his mother and a phrase that follows him till now. It shows a lot of how he grew up and what kind of person he is.

If you want to know more about his years at Bahamas and how he grew up, please read his article at The Players Tribune, an amazing one and one of my favorites. Article can be found here.

Name: Buddy Hield
Class:  Senior
Position: SG
Height: 6'4"5
*Season stats: MPG: 35.4, PER: 28.7, PPG: 25.4, RPG: 5.7, APG: 2, 3P%: .465
University: Oklahoma

I wanted to write for Buddy Hield a long time ago, before the 1st phase of NCAA tournament, but I didn't have the time. From that time till now, almost everyone who is involved with basketball or just loves the sports has watched highlights with his memorable performances that lead Oklahoma at the Final Four at Houston. 

So, I will try to speak a bit about Buddy Hield and what makes him so special, Hield is the best shooting guard of the year and the favorite to win the Naismith award of the year.

Body:
An amazing athlete, one of the few that can be considered NBA ready athlete. He stands at 6'4 with a wingspan of 6'8"5, a bit short but with a nice length. I know there are some questions out there about his size, but I would not worry at all. He is an explosive athlete with strong first step and great frame. 

Offensively, Buddy Hield can light it up like few. In 4 games till now in the NCAA tournament, he is averaging 29.2 ppg, during his last run with Oklahoma University, he is averaging 25.4 ppg with a true shooting percentage of 67%. In my eyes, is one of the best 3-point shooter (46.5%), maybe even better than Bryn Forbes (48%) for whom we wrote few weeks ago. Very good shooting technique with a high point of release. Very difficult to block his shot. He is a great off the screen shooter and equally good when he creates his own shot. A big advantage, as very few players in college can create their own shot and so efficiently. 

What amazes me, is that during his freshman year, he was shooting just with 23.8% from behind the arc. 

How he improved so much? There is only one answer, work and work hard every day. A typical day in Buddy Hield life is to be at the gym around 7AM and shoot, go to class and then come back around 11AM and shoot again, around 2PM the team was practicing for 2 hours and Buddy was back at 10PM to shoot. Repetition and hard work is the answer of how a very bad shooter became one of the best in few years, it shows a lot of what he is made off. Maybe you have the talent but if you do not work hard, you will never reach your true potential and Buddy Hield knows it.

Apart from being a great shooter behind the arc, Hield can drive strong from the baseline or middle lane and finish with his right or left hand. We have to note that Hield avoids the 2-point jumpers,just 15% of his attempts are 2-point jumpers, 54% of his attempts are 3-point shots and 32% of his attempts are near the rim. 
If you ask me, I totally agree with that, as the value of the 2-point jumpers are really low and by driving to the basket you have the chance to go more often to the free throw line. You guessed it right, he is an excellent  FT shooter, 88%. 
Last but not least, Hield has improved a lot his ball handling and is a willing passer, he is averaging 2 APG. His turnover number is a bit concerning, he is averaging 3 turnovers per game, but in NBA, he should be more of a catch and shoot guy, at least at the begging.

Defense, Buddy is a good defender, he has a top length and athleticism for NCAA, he could be an even better defender, but with a usage rate of 30% is difficult to give everything you have in D. I expect him to be a good defender in NBA, depends which team will draft Hield, but initially he should work as a 3&D glue guy. His wingspan and athleticism is helping him in rebounding the ball also. Hield is averaging 5.7 RPG. 

Overall, Hield is one of the most ready players of the draft, a build body and a great shooter under any circumstances. He should be able to earn minutes pretty fast and help a team in both ends of the floor. If we take off Philly and L.A. Lakers (#1 and #2 picks) the rest of the teams should be considering him as a draft option, I know that most of the teams will prefer the upside of Jamal Murray as a SG, but Hield is making a lot of noise and it will be difficult to be ignored. Best fit for him would be Celtics, Pelicans and Kings. 

One more net to take down, two more games, he has what it takes, will he perform? Your comments.

Hope you enjoyed the report and looking forward to your comments.

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I would like to thank hoop-math for some of the advanced analytics. 

**Please note the stats are till the game @Oregon 26 of March
*MPG: Minutes per game, PPG: Points per game, RPG: Rebounds per game, PER: Player efficient rate, FG: Field goals.