Quote:
Originally Posted by tap2390
IMO you are way overestimating his value around the league. He's starting his 4/100 deal next season, known somewhat as a malcontent, and doesn't bring great defense. A team desperate for shooting may decide to pull the trigger, but he won't be their top option. Even with contracts being equal I'd take Tim Hardaway Jr. for chemistry and team mentality reasons. Add in the contract and the Kings will have to pay to get rid of him or take on a large 3-4 year deal (I could see a move for Al Horford or Tobias Harris, etc.).
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This is all true, but some of it might change significantly when you get him out of that hell-hole of a franchise. In other words, maybe he has reason to be a malcontent, and maybe he's not playing very hard on defense because he doesn't think there's point while he's there. (I'm not defending that, if it's the case, just pointing out that it's possible)
Think about the 2018-2019 narrative on Jimmy Butler vs. the reality of today.
Think about how much better THJ looks here than he did trying to carry the Knicks.
I'm not trying to claim any of this, necessarily, just pointing out that a team out there might look at the dude and see an upgrade to their team, not just a bad contract.
I know it seems like everyone can shoot now, and that shooting is easy to find these days, but that's a relative statement, really. In a way, the fact that everyone is shooting high efficiency shots means that you truly have to have elite shooters to get ahead of the pack and win.
There are really only a handful of players in the game who can shoot a high volume of 3's and make them at an efficient clip. Hield IS one of them. He had the 3rd best shooting season in the league this year, imo, after Duncan Robinson and Lillard. Now, obviously, he doesn't compare to Lilliard, who's doing so much on the floor that it's absolutely AMAZING that he's able to shoot such a high percentage, but Hield is asked to do a much wider variety of things than Robinson, on the other hand.
For the Mavericks, THJ doesn't even come close to being this type of offensive weapon, honestly, though I do think he's underrated by Dallas fans and I totally agree with your points regarding his fit in the culture, team-first attitude, stability, etc.
And Curry shoots a higher percentage, but quite literally can't get enough shots off for the percentage to mean much. At his size (and possibly this is because his release is too slow, too) he gets run off of the line far too easily, imo. It's frustrating. I love that he is one of the few players who still seems comfortable in the mid-range, but I don't love that he's not really an effective passer once he floors the ball, and to be honest, if he's not getting the shots off then he's not doing what they brought him here to do.
I think Hield is much better as both a shooter and as a handler/playmaker (when he's willing) than either of those players. Even if he doesn't improve their defense, I can see combining (and improving on) the strengths of THJ, Curry and even Burke into ONE, high minute player could open up other places in the rotation for different solutions to those problems.
Just food for thought. I know it's a little out of the box, and I could be woefully mistaken.
EDIT: I suck at sharing stat tables, but I just did some digging, and here's what I found. There were only 10 players who attempted (were able to attempt) over 500 3's this year. A much smaller handful was able to get off over 600. The most efficient trio of them were:
Duncan Robinson (.446 on 606 attempts)
Damian Lillard (.401 on 674 attempts)
Buddy Hield (.394 on 688 attempts)
Now, I listed them in order of percentage, but I would argue that Robinson is asked to do the least of those three while he's on the court. Either way, I think that's the top tier of shooters in the league.
Side note: I admit that after checking these stats out, THJ would probably be my 4th favorite shooting season, at the top of tier 2. On 513 attempts he shot .398, 4th among those with 500 attempts or more. But, idk...those extra 100-200 attempts are kind of a game changer, imo. Also, an argument could be made (not sure it's one to which I subscribe) that THJ's fine shooting season was an outlier, and that he's in danger of reverting next year.