Boston Celtics: “Pass or Pursue” on 7 recently rumored TPE targets
By Mark Nilon
Potential TPE target for Boston Celtics No. 2) Buddy Hield, Sacramento Kings
We continue our stay within the Sacramento King’s rotation with the 5th-year wing in Buddy Hield.
The 28-year-old is coming off of a stellar season in which he saw averages of 19.2 points, 4.6 rebounds, three assists, and just shy of a steal per game on 43 percent shooting from the floor and 39 percent shooting from deep.
Like many of the players that you’ll be finding on this list, the idea of the Boston Celtics pursuing the likes of Hield is not a new one for us here at HH.
And while we have had varying opinions about whether he’d be a good fit with this team, most recently our perception of such a union took a negative turn, as just over two months ago our very own Don Porcaro Jr penned a piece discussing how the shooting guard was not the type of player to fix the C’s bench struggles like many — including some of us here — have previously believed.
"Do you want more of a reason to say no? Hield operates exclusively from the 3-point line. Averaging almost four 3-pointers made per game, over 50% of his points are from the 3-ball. The Celtics don’t work like that. Look at their starting lineup or even bench. It’s filled with three-way scorers who are also effective in the paint and from mid-range. Hield isn’t that."
Despite some of their losses this offseason, the idea behind how his game really wouldn’t add anything that unique to Boston’s bench remains reletively unchanged, especially with newcomers like Jeff Teague, Payton Pritchard, and the potential Buddy Hield-clone in Aaron Nesmith.
Add in the fact that he’s been just a borderline “3-point specialist” and nothing more — according to Porcaro — and that you’d be paying him a $24 million salary in 2020-21, and you are just bringing on an overpaid guy who would just wind up taking away shots from Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown.