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Why Hield doesn’t feel pressure to replace Warriors icon Thompson originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area
SAN FRANCISCO – Many NBA players, particularly veterans, tend to avoid identifying influences still active in the game. For anyone preparing for his ninth year in the league, it’s reasonable to feel above such idolatry.
The newest member of the Warriors doesn’t mind. Buddy Hield’s perspective, formed during a childhood high on dignity but low on finances, allows him the freedom to comfortably acknowledge those he studied.
One being his new teammate with the Warriors: Stephen Curry.
Another being the man whose departure from the Warriors, Klay Thompson, created the void Hield projects to fill.
“Steph is one for sure. I watched Klay, too,” Hield told NBC Sports Bay Area on Thursday. “Because my shot is not over the top of the head like Ray Allen or like Kobe Bryant or Michael Jordan. So, I had to watch the fluidity of their shot. Steph, Klay, maybe a little bit of Devin Booker. Anthony Morrow. Kevin Martin. I watched those guys and how they got their shot off and how I can be effective.”
Hield’s shot is his password. It granted him access to the University of Oklahoma, where as a senior he was a consensus first-team All-America in 2016 and swept the major Player of the Year awards. The shot opened the door to the NBA, where his 40-percent career 3-point shooting is third – behind only Curry and Thompson – among active players with more than 4,000 attempts.
Drafted by the New Orleans Pelicans (sixth overall), Hield was traded as a rookie to the Sacramento Kings, who in 2022 traded him to the Indiana Pacers, who last February traded him to the Philadelphia 76ers. Upon becoming an unrestricted free agent, he re-signed with Philly as part of the sign-and-trade deal that put him in Golden State.
Hield was introduced to Bay Area media at the San Francisco State University gymnasium, where he was participating in his first Warriors Basketball Academy camp. It’s the kind of camp he has operated for years in the Bahamas, where he was born, raised and became such a hoop junkie that he created his…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/why-hield-doesnt-feel-pressure-230203648.html
Author : NBC Sports BayArea
Publish date : 2024-07-18 23:02:03
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