Inside the NBA: Trade vaults Hield to top of rookies class
The redraft evaluations of this NBA season’s unfulfilling rookie class make general managers cringe.
Two of the top rookies, Joel Embiid and Dario Saric of Philadelphia, were drafted in 2014. Embiid might win rookie of the year honors despite missing more games than he played (31). The 2016 draft’s only legitimate candidate, Milwaukee’s Malcolm Brogdon, was a second-round pick.
June’s first-round batch recalls the disappointment of 2013, subsequently saved by C.J. McCollum, Giannis Antetokounmpo and Rudy Gobert. Second-round picks and undrafted players have earned more rookie run than 2016 first-rounders, who account for just 14 of the 33 rookie playing time leaders.
The scene made Sacramento’s Buddy Hield a surprise face of the draft when he was the Kings’ centerpiece for a blockbuster DeMarcus Cousins trade.
Hield also has become representative of the rookie class’ late-season surge, a combination of players who are improving as the season progresses and those who are getting more opportunity as their teams fall out of contention.
Hield’s shooting has improved 10 percentage points from New Orleans to Sacramento. He is averaging more than 14 points per game with the Kings, including a 22-point, eight-rebound, seven-assist game against the player Sacramento owner Vivek Randive reportedly saw as Hield’s template and Oscar Robertson used for Hield’s comparison — two-time MVP Stephen Curry.
Hield’s response to a gradually expanded role quieted some rancor over a widespread belief that the Kings were fleeced in the Cousins trade. New Orleans was unable to play winning basketball with Cousins, and never made a run at the final Western Conference playoff spot that was up for grabs at the time of the Feb. 20 trade.
“I know DeMarcus Cousins is a great player and he’s an All-Star, but the team wanted something different,” Hield said. “I’m pleased that they wanted me. God doesn’t make any mistakes and He wanted me to be here.”
Hield was New Orleans’ No. 6 pick, two spots ahead of Sacramento’s original spot, but he drew criticism at trade time for being the prize for th Kings for giving up Cousins. Hield, 23, is considered an old rookie and was panned for weaknesses in ball-handling, defense and athleticism.
A late bloomer at Oklahoma who was fueled by his doubters, Hield is learning on the fly again in Sacramento as he evolves from mostly catch-and-shoot situations around Anthony Davis in New Orleans to pick-and-roll and isolation opportunities.
The trade put a spotlight on Hield, but Kings Coach David Joerger eased him into his new team. Hield came off the bench for his first seven games in Sacramento.
“It’s a tough situation,” Joerger said. “You get into the NBA and things are going 9,000 miles an hour and then you get traded. You don’t very often get traded your rookie season. And our team got shaken a bit. We were reformulating, so it was slow as we go. What you do, feel good about it. Brick by brick, try to get better.
“He’s coming into a situation where you put your arms around him and say, ‘Hey, we want you to be here for 10 years.’ When somebody says that and you believe it, I think that gives a guy confidence.”
There was little doubt how much Sacramento valued Hield. Randive said as much, although Hield said he misspoke in February when he told reporters that Randive told him from his courtside seat, “We’re still gonna get you,” as Hield played for the Pelicans at Sacramento.
“I knew he wanted me from the draft but he was just like a fan [during the Kings-Pelicans game],” Hield said. “He wasn’t saying anything crazy. He just had mad love for me.”
Hield is the only 2016 draftee averaging double-digit scoring besides Brogdon, who is the only 2016 draftee averaging more than 24 minutes — half of a game — besides the Lakers’ Brandon Ingram.
Like Hield, rookies such as Kings teammate Skal Labissiere (D-League regular to spring standout), Boston’s Jaylen Brown (good defense, improved offense), Saric (new-age power forward), Phoenix’s Marquese Chriss (full-season starter) and Ingram (progress quelled by injury) have improved during the season.
This rookie class has been defined by a lackluster first-round batch, but its top pick, Ben Simmons of Philadelphia, has not played and other players had their seasons end early (Embiid) or start late (Brooklyn’s Caris LeVert).
The draft class could be defined by overlooked role players — the Lakers’ Ivica Zubac (No. 32 pick), Phoenix’s Tyler Ulis (34), Brogodon (36), Golden State’s Patrick McCaw (38), Brooklyn’s Isaiah Whitehead (42), Chicago’s Paul Zipser (48) and Dallas’ undrafted duo of Yogi Ferrell and Dorian Finney-Smith.
Without those rookie regulars, the focus fell largely on Hield once the popular Embiid was shut down for the season.
“I’m glad to be here in this situation,” Hield said. “I’m trying to lead a team with young guys to new heights.”
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