Buddy hield underappreciated

[hoopsaustin]

https://www.cbssports.com/nba/news/...s-into-nbas-most-surprising-team-this-season/
via http://cbssportsapp.com

Posting from phone. But great story about how Hield has completely flipped the story of his trade for cousins

 

[TheMont]

Awesome read. Buddy deserves every ounce of success that he's having.

 

[sheepdogs1]

I see Buddy as a person who 'gives' instead of 'takes'. I like when givers succeed in life.

 

[AdaSooner]

Great article! Thanks for posting, hoopsaustin!

Buddy deserves everything he has now and more. We were witness to how hard he worked when he was at OU. Will we have another player with his work ethic? Isaiah was as close as anyone I can think of right now, and they were in the same class.

The surprising thing to me is that most of the newbies since Buddy and Isaiah left, don’t seem to be willing to put in the time and effort to be equally as successful. CJ and Doolittle have to some degree, and I’m hoping JB will prove to be a gym rat throughput his career. But to be honest, most of our players have been a disappointment to me when it comes to working hard to correct weaknesses and to get better.

Let’s hope the new class coming in will change that!

 

[hoopsaustin]

I dont think any of us would have predicted 20 pts a game for buddy and leading scorer on a team. And not some junk team that doesnt matter, but a team competing for the 8th seed im the west

 

[skyvue]

I dont think any of us would have predicted 20 pts a game for buddy and leading scorer on a team. And not some junk team that doesnt matter, but a team competing for the 8th seed im the west

I'm not much for predicting, but I always thought Buddy could have success in the NBA -- and precisely because he works so hard (plus his God-given talents). I wasn't concerned when he didn't light it up from the jump in his first season (most players need a little time to adjust to the next level, whether it's college or pro), and I was very surprised when New Orleans gave up on him so early. I hope it pains the Pelicans brass daily when they see Buddy's stat lines.

 

[Eielson]

I'm not much for predicting, but I always thought Buddy could have success in the NBA -- and precisely because he works so hard (plus his God-given talents). I wasn't concerned when he didn't light it up from the jump in his first season (most players need a little time to adjust to the next level, whether it's college or pro), and I was very surprised when New Orleans gave up on him so early. I hope it pains the Pelicans brass daily when they see Buddy's stat lines.

The Pelicans didn't exactly give up on Buddy. They brought in a true superstar with Buddy as the centerpiece of the deal. Knowing what I know now about Buddy, I'd still make the deal and hope for better luck with Boogie's achilles. Buddy wouldn't be enough to keep Davis in NO, but Boogie very well could have. I think they had to take their shot.

I'll always wonder if Vlade knew what he was doing with this deal, or if he just got absurdly lucky. Given that they had Bogdan starting over him last year, I'm tempted to say the Kings were as surprised by this season as anybody.

 

[thebigabd]

I have a client who is a Kings fan, and he was saying they couldn't be more proud to have Buddy. They feel like they've shed themselves of cancerous players and have a pretty legitimate group to build around.

Hopefully they continue to make smart moves... I like the foreign players on their team as well. Hit some jackpots with those guys as well.

 

[WichitaSooner]

The Pelicans didn't exactly give up on Buddy. They brought in a true superstar with Buddy as the centerpiece of the deal. Knowing what I know now about Buddy, I'd still make the deal and hope for better luck with Boogie's achilles. Buddy wouldn't be enough to keep Davis in NO, but Boogie very well could have. I think they had to take their shot.

I'll always wonder if Vlade knew what he was doing with this deal, or if he just got absurdly lucky. Given that they had Bogdan starting over him last year, I'm tempted to say the Kings were as surprised by this season as anybody.

I think too much is made about Bogdan starting last year. They were their two best offensive players and just happened to basically play the same position. They decided to make Buddy the sixth man to try to spark the bench and it worked well so they stuck with it. But obviously you are right that him not starting wasn't a great sign.

The thing about the NBA is that if you have a truly elite skill, you will always be relevant. And before he ever played a game in the NBA, Buddy was an elite shooter. I may not have expected him to be this great of an all around player this soon, but his shooting doesn't surprise me at all.

 

[Eielson]

I knew he'd shoot well, but I never thought he'd shoot THIS well. To put it into perspective, there were 35 people coming into today that had shot 325+ 3 pointers (Buddy shot 464), and of those 35, Steph is the only other one shooting above 40%. Essentially, Buddy has 5% on every 3 point shooter not named Steph this year. From what I can tell, if he keeps up this pace, there's a very short list of 3 points shooters that have had comparable seasons:

Warriors, Ray Allen, Reggie, Peja, Glen Rice, Dennis Scott.