2020-2021 ROSTER TALK: Archived

[SleepingHero]

I dont understand why people think Buddy Hield is this gigantic upgrade over THJ.

Probably because Buddy Hield is an upgrade over THJ? RPM takes into account teammates, coaches, and a players performance relative to his team's performance on/off court. Buddy has been on BAD teams, some of the worst in the NBA, on what is probably a bottom 3 franchise, with an inept coach, and we're going to use this metric to compare him to THJ's time in Dallas?

I posted this a little while ago, but to really put in perspective of how good a shooter Buddy is:

-Buddy has made more 3's in the last 2 years than Seth Curry has made in his entire career (549 to 446).
-Buddy's worst year as a pro (his rookie year) saw him average 39% from 3, and made 148 threes total. Good for 29th in the league. Seth Curry last year made the most 3's he's ever made as a pro with 145.
-Buddy has 873 made 3's in his career. He's made the most 3's in the shortest amount of time in NBA history. He beat Steph Curry by 8 games.
-Buddy broke Damian Lillards record (599) of most 3pters made in the first 3 seasons of an NBA career with 602 made threes
- THJ has 944 made threes in his entire 7 year career, Buddy is on pace to surpass him this season, having reached THJ's mark in almost half as much time.

-Buddy has been top 5 in 3pt shots made in the NBA the last 2 years
-Buddy has shot on catch and shoot threes the last 4 years: 19/20- 41.3%, 18/19-46.0%, 17/18- 50.2%, 16/17- 42.3%

Buddy is in the same class of shooter as Steph Curry and Ray Allen. We all talk about how Richardson is going to thrive playing next to someone like Luka and how he's going to benefit from the space created. I can only imagine the kind of damage someone like Buddy could have playing next to a guy like Luka. Having that kind of pressure means that you can never leave him open, thus taking pressure off of Luka/Jrich/KP. It'd be akin to leaving Steph Curry wide open for 3. 

I'm also petrified in a THJ regression to the mean. By all accounts last year was a career year for him. He's a career 34% from 3 taking out last year. He improved nearly 6 percentage points playing next to Luka and playing RC's offense. After the shutdown we already have had some smoke that THJ is going back to his previous efficiency. Over 14 games in the bubble THJ put up 34% from 3. Smallish sample size (nearly 20% of the regular season) but it IS something to worry. If THJ isn't hitting 40% from 3, his value plummets significantly. 

Buddy isn't strong on defense, but neither is THJ for that matter. Buddy is also locked up at about the same number as THJ is for the next 4 seasons, while we're already fearing a 20 mil THJ extension.