Buddy Hield can play, folks
For some reason, Oklahoma Sooners star Buddy Hield has not been talked about with the same excitement as Brandon Ingram of the Duke Blue Devils and Ben Simmons of the LSU Tigers.
Simmons and Ingram are all but locks to go first and second in the 2016 NBA Draft come June, with Hield following somewhere with foreign players nobody stateside has heard of, and some other quality-but-lesser players from the NCAA field.
Yet, Hield should be anything but lost in the proverbial mix when it comes to his NBA stock. This is a kid who has played four seasons in the Big 12 and gotten better each season for Oklahoma. Hield averaged 7.8 points per game in 25 minutes as a freshman before scoring 16.5 points per game as a sophomore. The following campaign, Hield stagnated a bit at 17.4 points/game before exploding this season for 25.4 points/game.
Some will say that if Hield was so talented, he would have come out after his freshman season like Ingram and Simmons will this year, and like Kevin Durant, Carmelo Anthony and others have in the recent past. However, it should be noted that players such as Kawhi Leonard, Steph Curry and Paul George stayed in school well past their first years and have become superstars in the league.
On Tuesday, Hield was named to the 2015-16 AP All-America team. His head coach, Lon Kruger, had plenty to say about him, per ESPN.
“He has had a fantastic year and has been very consistent,” Kruger said of the Bahamas native who was a third-team selection last season. “He worked hard and has that passion and focus that makes him what he is.”
Hield is also performing with the lights at their brightest. In the NCAA Tournament, Hield has the Sooners in the Final Four for the first time since 2002 (something Blake Griffin could not do). Hield scored 27 points in the opening round to beat CSU Bakersfield before pouring in another 36 points on 11-of-20 shooting to hold off the hard-charging VCU Rams.
In the Sweet 16, Hield scored 17 points on 6-of-13 from the field in a blowout of the third-seeded Texas A&M Aggies before torching the top-seeded Oregon Ducks, going off for 37 points while shooting 65 percent. In that game, Hield hit on 8-of-13 from downtown.
At this point, Hield is clearly one of the best NBA prospects in the land. He’s 6-foot-4 and 214 pounds, giving his frame room to fill out. He should be a guard immediately and if he can add 10-15 pounds of muscle, perhaps play him at the small forward position full-time.
In a basketball world of one-and-dones, Hield is showcasing that being a late-bloomer doesn’t always have to be a bad thing.
