Sacramento Kings: 2017-18 player grades for Buddy Hield

In his first full season with the Sacramento Kings, Buddy Hield showed off his lethal 3-point shot. But how good was the rest of his game?

When sharpshooting wing Buddy Hield joined the Sacramento Kings as part of the lopsided DeMarcus Cousins trade, owner Vivek Ranadive championed the former New Orleans Pelicans draft pick as the next Stephen Curry.

Imagine joining a team and the owner basically says to you “Hey, I need you to come in and be the second coming of possibly the greatest shooter in the history of the game. No pressure!” Who could live up to those expectations?

If you ignore Ranadive’s prognosticating — an easy feat considering this was the same man that thought that 4-on-5 defense with a cherrypicker on the other end was a sound basketball strategy — Hield had a solid sophomore season with Sacramento. He flashed his long range shooting often for a Kings team that ranked fourth in the league in 3-point field goal percentage and was surprisingly effective in other aspects of the game.

Is Hield better served as a role player, or does he have star potential? Is he a run-of-the-mill shooter, or is he more? Only time will tell. But with this piece, I hope to shed some light in regard to which direction he may head toward.