Buddy Hield, Oklahoma
Age: 22 years old Size: 6’4, 214 pounds
Last Season’s Stats: 25 points; 5.7 rebounds; 2.0 assists per game
Shooting Percentages: 50.1% from the field; 45.7% from three-point; 88% from the free throw line
Buddy Hield brings a definite elite skill with him to the NBA: shooting. He was just two free throw percentage points from joining the “180” club (50 percent from the field, 40 percent from three-point, 90 percent from free throw) and hit 45.7 percent of his three point shots.
Averaging 25 points and carrying the Oklahoma Sooners on his back for the majority of the year is not an easy task, buy Hield passed with flying colors. He has improved his game every single year in his four-year career at Oklahoma and is arguably the most NBA-ready player in the draft. Add a better slashing and penetration game and he has evolved himself into a versatile scorer
The only big things holding him back are his age and his physical limitations. With Hield being a senior, he has played a lot of basketball and will be in his “peak” years sooner rather than later. Only standing six foot four, with a wingspan of six foot eight inches he may have issues creating his shot, either at the rim or beyond the three-point line.
With Hield being shown as high as the third pick in different mock drafts and his limited upside, I do not see him as a likely pick of the Nuggets. He does provide shooting, but outside of that, he does not have any other big aspects to his game. The Nuggets would have to trade up to get him, and that would take quite a few assets to pull off. I do not see them as a match this year.
