PHILADELPHIA — The Philadelphia 76ers pulled the trigger on a big move at the deadline to acquire Buddy Hield from the Indiana Pacers in exchange for Marcus Morris Sr., Furkan Korkmaz and three second-round picks. Hield is one of the better 3-point shooters in the league, and Philadelphia hopes he continues to be.
Hield is a career 40.1% shooter from deep on 7.7 attempts and that will be a very helpful addition to a Sixers team building around Tyrese Maxey and Joel Embiid. Obviously, Philadelphia doesn’t have Embiid at the moment due to his meniscus procedure, but the fact is that Hield’s volume of 3-point shooting is going to be very valuable when Embiid does return.
“I think that, you guys hear me say this enough, I think the current state of everything and especially when you got some guys that need space, any time you can add some 3-point shooting and pretty good experienced 3-point shooting in Hield, especially, but Cam (Payne) also shoots the ball well,” said coach Nick Nurse. “I think that’s certainly an upgrade for us, yeah. Excited about it.”
Nurse is right that Hield is certainly an upgrade on the floor as a shooter. The Sixers need his ability to shoot the ball and the gravity he has will make life easier for Philadelphia.
“I feel like we got the best player at the trade deadline that was traded,” added President of Basketball Operations Daryl Morey. “I felt like he gave us exactly what we were looking for which is he’s one of the best 3-point shooters in NBA history. We really like what he adds to the team and we feel like our healthy group, our playoff rotation, with Buddy Hield is right there with everyone in the entire league.”
The defensive attention that Hield commands is going to make a big difference for Philadelphia. That is why Morey pulled the trigger to add him to the rotation for Nurse to tinker with.
“Look, with Joel and Tyrese, he puts the fear of God in other teams,” Morey added. “The shots are coming. They’re coming in transition. They’re coming deep. They’re coming off actions. You need to pay a lot of attention to Buddy Hield on the court … and that’s super valuable with Joel and Tyrese in opening up things up for them.”
With Embiid out, teams are pressing Maxey. The Sixers have needed to add shooting to help space the floor.
“They’re making it very challenging for Tyrese right now,” Morey continued “They’re making it very challenging on the rest of our team. That’s what they should do. Buddy Hield’s going to help during this period, but we weren’t as focused on this period. Obviously, we need to win games and it’s going to be a battle, but we were focused on (when) the playoffs are here, we have a rotation we know can win at a super-high level.”
The Sixers hope Embiid can return, and they believe the addition of Hield will help when the postseason rolls around in April.
“Buddy Hield’s going to play significant minutes in that rotation,” Morey finished. “The only player that moved teams that was going to play a big role in our rotation was Buddy Hield, and I think what he brings to the table is pretty obvious.”
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