Five reasons Buddy Hield is perfect for the New Orleans Pelicans
By Ian Levy
1. Gets buckets
We already touched on Hield’s shooting and the positive effect it could have on Anthony Davis, but that’s an ancillary effect. The primary effect of having Hield on the floor is that he’s an incredibly efficient high-volume scorer who can put up points in a hurry. As was mentioned, Hield shot 45.6 percent on three-pointers last season. He managed that level of accuracy while using more than 30 percent of his team’s possessions and attempting more than 13 three-pointers per 100 team possessions.
The idea of a high-volume NBA scorer who is primarily a three-point shooter is still a relatively new idea. The sample size is really just Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson. Hield is much more limited than both of those players but his shooting appears to be up to snuff. He will be deadly as a catch-and-shoot threat, but he is just as dangerous spotting up in transition or pulling-up behind a screen.
We have seen hyper-efficient three-point shooters move from college to the NBA — three-point shooting is a fairly stable skill. But players like J.J. Redick and Kyle Korver were primarily off-ball threats, relying on screens to get themselves free and a willing passer to deliver the ball. Hield can and will succeed in that role as well, but he’s also efficient creating threes for himself with the ball in his hands, even with defenders right in his face.
He’ll need to round out his game to become an All-Star but playing next to an All-World forward like Anthony Davis, his shooting is going to be an enormous difference-maker for the Pelicans.
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