After scoring 28 points off of 10/17 shooting from the floor in yesterday’s win against the rival Los Angeles Lakers, Buddy Hield was asked by Jason Anderson from the Sacramento Bee if he was content with his role moving forward in Sacramento. According to Jason, Buddy never said yes.
Asked Buddy Hield if he can be content with his role moving forward with the Kings. He did not say yes.
— Jason Anderson (@JandersonSacBee) August 13, 2020
This tweet was met with public outcry, including memes showing Buddy in different NBA jerseys, all hinting at the fact that a trade might be lingering somewhere in the offseason. Some were upset about this response, or lack there of. But honestly, what’s so surprising?
Why would Buddy be content with his role in Sacramento? He is a year removed from scoring 20.7 points a game while shooting close to 43% from behind the arc on an up and coming team. Even in a down year, Buddy scored over 19 points per game and shot 39% from deep.
Granted, Buddy did play himself into a lesser role. He consistently made poor decisions when on the floor, whether that was shooting, defending, or dribbling, and this only lead to drama in the locker room.
So should we be upset that he’s not content coming off the bench in Walton’s rotation? Not at all. Buddy is way better than being a bench player and hopefully this discontent fuels the fire to play better.
Buddy needs to stick to his strengths and avoid making bad decisions. After playing so well as a catch and shoot player next to Fox, it appeared as if that wasn’t enough for him, even though he was excelling and gaining attention around the league.
This season, he began dribbling the ball too much, and all in an attempt to create his own shot. This, as it happened far too often, would result in Buddy turning the ball over or forcing up a bad shot.
It wasn’t just creating his own looks that led to poor shot attempts either. Buddy became way too trigger-happy this season and it felt like Walton never disciplined the shooting guard. Over and over again, Buddy would throw up almost every catch and shoot attempt he was given, no matter how heavily guarded.
I hope Buddy can learn from his mistakes and let his displeasure be a catalyst to drive him to improve.
There aren’t many players in the league that can make over 250 three pointers in back to back seasons while maintaining a three point percentage around 40%.
Buddy has talent and even though this may not have been his year, it’s no reason to give up all hope. Yeah he’s mad, but sometimes anger can fuel a player to take their game to the next level.
Sincerely,
A hopeful Kings fan
