The Denver Nuggets have the seventh pick in the draft for the second year in a row, and this year yet another guard seems to be the fit the Nuggets are looking for.
Buddy Hield is a 6-foot-4 senior out of the University of Oklahoma, and does one thing exceptionally well: Shoot. And it just so happens that shooting is exactly what the Nuggets need most.
The Nuggets ranked 20th in points and 25th in three-point field goals last season. Emmanuel Mudiay is not a prolific scorer, Gary Harris is still developing and Danilo Gallinari has been injury prone virtually his entire career, opening the door for Hield to enter and make an immediate impact.
Hield averaged 25 points per game last year, but what’s most enticing to the Nuggets is his 45.7 percent shooting from three.
Hield gets knocked down a peg because he’s a fourth-year college student, and yes, the odds are against drafting fourth-year college players early in the draft. Guys like Jimmer Fredette and Doug McDermott have struggled in the NBA following the completion of their fourth year in the NCAA.
However, one name in particular should give NBA fans hope about Hield’s ability to play after four years in college: Damian Lillard.
Lillard played college ball for four years at Weber State and was taken with the sixth-overall pick in the 2012 NBA draft. The two-time All-Star and unanimous Rookie of the Year award winner gave the Portland Trail Blazers an identity and swagger they had so desperately longed for.
Like Hield, Lillard improved by the year in college.
Lillard’s points per game over four years:
Freshman: 11.5 ppg
Sophomore: 19.9 ppg
Junior: 17.7 ppg
Senior: 24.5 ppg
Hield’s points per game over four years:
Freshman: 7.8 ppg
Sophomore: 16.5 ppg
Junior: 17.5 ppg
Senior: 25 ppg
Hield and Lillard share similarities in terms of their growth and progression in college, and that is something to get excited about.
The fact that he is a four-year player could be a good thing. The extra time in the NCAA allowed Hield to work on and adjust his craft, and his senior year was a reflection of the adjustments made to his game.
The Nuggets believe they are close to contending for a playoff spot — closer than a lot of outsiders think, at least — and that could make Buddy all the more attractive; he can improve their team from the get-go, as opposed to a draft-and-stash or developmental prospect.
Not to mention, he’s one of America’s favorite new basketball personalities — he’s even got Kobe’s endorsement. It’d be pretty fun to have a personality like that in Denver.
If he adds some marketability to the franchise, that could be a bonus, too.
People may argue about Hield’s upside and overall skill set, but as we see more and more often in the NBA today, there’s one skill that is more important than all others: SHOOTING. If you can drain three pointers at a near 50 percent rate, you’re of use to a franchise, and that’s what the Nuggets would be getting in Buddy Hield.
