Buddy Hield: No. 1 in Big 12, No. 1 Selection From League in NBA Draft
By Chip Rouse
Thursday was a day of double No. 1s for former Oklahoma super star Buddy Hield.
The two-time Sooner All-American and winner of the top two individual awards in college basketball this past season was the first player from the Big 12 selected in the 2016 NBA Draft, and that same day he was named Big 12 Sportsperson of the Year.
The big headline of the day, though, for the player known affectionately as “Buddy Buckets” was his selection by the New Orleans Pelicans with the sixth overall pick in this year’s NBA Draft.
Decked out in a white formal suit coat accessorized with a crimson bow tie and matching pocket square broke out in one of his famous ear-to-ear smiles when his name was called after being named the New Orleans first-round pick in the 2016 draft.
Hield was in Brooklyn, N.Y., seated at a table in the Barclays Center, where the draft was originating from, joined by his mother, Jackie, and Oklahoma head coach Lon Kruger.
There are several reasons why New Orleans will be a perfect fit for the Sooners’ and the Big 12’s leading scorer and Player of the Year the past two seasons, not the least of which how much closer Hield will be to his home country of the Bahamas, compared with what it would have been had New Orleans not snapped him up with the No. 6 overall pick.
It had been reported for weeks ahead of time that Boston, Minnesota and Phoenix, all of whom selected ahead of New Orleans, as well as Denver and Sacramento, who were immediately after New Orleans in the draft order, were all interested in the former Oklahoma star.
It became readily apparent on draft night that Hield had made an incredibly prudent decision to stay in school for another year and not declare for the NBA Draft a year ago. His final season at Oklahoma not only was one of the best offensive performances of any player in the country but also led to one of the best team performances in Sooner basketball history and their fifth trip all-time to the NCAA Basketball Final Four.
The Pelicans desperately can use better outside shooting, and Hield offers an immediate solution to that problem. In addition, New Orleans likes to play an up-tempo style of basketball, which is a style of play that brings out the best in Hield’s quick-strike, three-point shooting skills.
Hield is only the third player to ever be selected in the NBA Draft from the Bahamas, and he is the highest four-year collegiate player to be drafted since the Portland Trail Blazers took Damian Lillard with the sixth overall pick in the 2012 draft.