Buddy Hield was acquired by the Philadelphia 76ers from the Indiana Pacers on Thursday morning in return for Marcus Morris, Furkan Korkmaz, and three second-round picks. The Pacers’ decision to part ways with the 31-year-old guard is hardly shocking.
His shooting ability has been a major factor in his worth as a player, and this season he hasn’t been as good. Additionally, he has witnessed a decline in use as the Pacers have favored the development of younger players such as Aaron Nesmith and Bennedict Mathurin.
A guy like Hield has the drawback of not adding much more to the game than his three-point shooting skills. It’s amazing when he’s hot and shooting more than 40 percent. However, the lower that percentage goes, the harder it is to overlook his game’s shortcomings.
He can’t really facilitate, is a poor defender, and never gets to the free-throw line. He is the team’s fifth-best field goal attemptant, but among players who play a considerable amount of minutes, he is last in free throw attempts.
Positively, he’s evolved into a better team member. One of the problems with him when he played for the Sacramento Kings was that he was a tough player who cared more about making shots than his team’s success.
He’s shown throughout the past several seasons that he’s more eager to comply and carry out his part. He might still be a valuable asset to a team in need of shooting if he can regain his stroke.
Shooters are desperately needed by the 76ers. Their offense has been a complete shambles ever since star Joel Embiid sustained an injury. Their three-point percentage is 18th, and their attempts at three points rank 24th. Early in the season, this wasn’t an issue since Tyrese Maxey and Joel Embiid’s two-man strategy offered enough gravity to generate space.
Embiid’s injury has forced opponents to trap Maxey instead of Embiid, and the 76ers don’t have any real threats to exploit this.
On plays like this one, where there is no effective three-point shooting, the opposition defense can clog the paint. Opposing defenses are able to sag out and assist on the drive since there aren’t enough shooters, which forces Maxey to attempt significantly harder shots.