With the new Warriors family, Hield quickly lived up to his nickname

Hield quickly lived up to his nickname with the new Warriors family, originally appearing on NBC Sports Bay Area

Listening to the coaches and players under the Warriors umbrella – and studying the stat sheets from the first two games – Chavano Rainer Hield lives up to his nickname.

Buddy.

Buddy Hield has been a Warrior for less than four months and is a practically perfect teammate. Exuberant, humorous, sociable. Everyone loves Buddy.

“Great vibes, man, just great energy,” Draymond Green told reporters Friday night after Golden State won the Jazz at Delta Center 127-86. “He’s a complete team guy. Buddy is the guy who tries to get everyone together for dinner, Buddy is the guy who tries to get everyone together to hang out. He's the guy who shapes the whole thing behind the scenes. And I think that’s a beautiful thing.”

Another endearing quality about Hield is that three days into the season, he's happily flying out of the NBA blocks and making valiant efforts to be the practically perfect sixth man.

Although many card-carrying citizens of Dub Nation are saddened by the departure of Klay Thompson, Golden State's longtime 3-point specialist, they find solace in the triples coming from Buddy's fingertips. He made 12 of his first 16 shots from distance, an impressive 75 percent. He is 18 of 26 from the field, an astounding 69.2 percent.

Between his personal warmth and the wave of heat he uses to silence the opposing defense, Buddy wins. Make new friends faster than a billionaire who publicly vows to donate every penny to charity within 24 hours.

“He just brings so much energy to the floor, and part of it is because of the way he plays,” coach Steve Kerr said. “I’m just looking for those shots and those threes and sprinting around the floor. He runs so hard in both directions and that sets the tone for us.

“And the other part is he was just an incredible person and teammate. Full of joy. The bank laughs with him the whole time. What he brings to the team goes far beyond his shooting, but that in itself is huge.”

After a standout college career at the University of Oklahoma – he shot 45.7 percent from distance as a senior – Hield was selected sixth overall by New Orleans in the 2016 NBA Draft. Six months later, he was traded to Sacramento in a deal that sent DeMarcus Cousins, then a two-time All-Star, to the Pelicans. After five seasons with the Kings, Hield was traded to Indiana, which traded him to Philadelphia two years later.

He was his team's most dangerous 3-point shooter at every stop. He was second to Stephen Curry in 3-pointers in 2020-21 and 2021-22 and second to Thompson in 2022-23. Hield fell to 15th last season, split between the Pacers and Sixers.

The “shooter at the top of the scouting report” designation changed last July when the Warriors acquired Buddy from the 76ers in a six-team trade. At 31, he came to a team that has Curry as the 3-point shooting king and plays a lot of movement offense.

It's as if Buddy has found his home of bliss after eight NBA seasons with four different teams.

“I keep preaching to everyone that it comes down to having the right intention, having the right attitude, being together and then making sacrifices, starting with leaders Steph, Draymond and Steve,” Hield said. “Everyone comes together as a unit and everyone puts each other first.

“Steph is one of the most humble superstars of all time. The way he carries himself on and off the basketball court. I just watch them and then try to follow in their footsteps. Just look up to them and in a way that makes me look at basketball differently than previous teams.”

Buddy's accuracy is untenable. But he's a career 40 percent shooter from beyond the arc, and he's done that without sharing the court with Curry or anyone else whose 3-point shooting ranks high on opposing scouting reports.

Buddy finally has a lot of breathing room and benefits from an offense that fits his constant movement and is often defended by players from the opposing second unit. And sometimes he shares the court with Curry.

Hield came off the bench and was the team's leading scorer in the first two games, totaling 49 points in 35 minutes. He has fun and sets fire to nets.

“He looked like Buddy from Oklahoma again, the way he moves and finds shots,” Green said after Hield scored a game-high 27 points on 10 of 14 shooting, including 7 of 9 from long range against the Jazz achieved.

“But we knew that we all said that we know what Buddy is going to offer us,” Green added. “He did exactly that. We have to make sure we continue to like him.”

This shouldn't be that hard. A good person always looks out for his buddy.

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