NBA Power Rankings Week 2: Scorching hot Miami Heat and what scares me
Last Week: (L) to GSW, (W) over PHX, (W) over NOP
The Sacramento Kings tried to move Buddy Hield this offseason. They drafted Davion Mitchell a year after drafting Tyrese Haliburton, leaving little room for Hield in their long-term plans. They very nearly pulled off a deal to send Hield to the Los Angeles Lakers before the Russell Westbrook trade materialized. How has Hield responded to all of this? By having a career season.
The sharpshooter is hitting 44 percent of his 10 3-pointers per game, an insane number. He has also been much better on defense than in earlier seasons, including getting the game-winning stop on Devin Booker in their win earlier this past week. The fit of Hield in lineups with two of the other guards is questionable, but so far so good for the Kings, whose 3-2 record has to be considered a success given a tough early schedule.
Scares Me: They will mess this up. The Kings are brimming with optimism as Hield and Harrison Barnes look rejuvenated and Davion Mitchell is everywhere on defense no matter the name on the back of his opponent’s jersey. The fear every Kings fan likely has is that management and/or ownership will somehow mess this up. They’ll trade a player for a terrible return, sign a crippling contract or somehow, in some spectacularly depressing way, mess this up. Kings fans won’t recover until a playoff berth (of some sort) is clinched.