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

To listen to the coaches and players under the Warriors umbrella – and to study the stats from the first two games – Chavano Rainer Hield lives up to his nickname.

Friend.

Buddy Hield has been a Warrior for less than four months and has been the near-perfect teammate. Vibrant, humorous, pleasant. Everyone loves Buddy.

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

Another endearing quality of Hield is that three days into the season, with his contentment overflowing, he flies out of the NBA blocks and makes a spirited attempt to be the near-perfect Sixth Man.

While many card-carrying citizens of Dub Nation are saddened by the departure of Golden State’s longtime 3-point specialist Klay Thompson, they find solace in the triples coming from Buddy’s fingertips. He has made 12 of his first 16 shots from beyond the arc, which amounts to an adorable 75 percent. He is 18 of 26 from the field, an astonishing 69.2 percent.

Between his personal warmth and the heat with which he withers the opponent’s defense, Buddy wins. new friends faster than a billionaire who publicly promises to donate every cent to charity within 24 hours.

“He just brings so much energy to the floor, and part of that is the way he plays,” coach Steve Kerr said. “Just looking for those shots and looking for the 3s and sprinting down the floor. He runs so hard both ways, and it sets a tone for us.

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

After a stellar collegiate career at the University of Oklahoma — he shot 45.7 percent from deep 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 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 three-point shooter at every stop. He was second in 3-point scoring, behind Stephen Curry, in 2020-21 and 2021-22, and second behind Thompson in 2022-23. Hield fell to 15th last season, which was split between the Pacers and Sixers.

The “shooter atop the scouting report” designation changed last July, when the Warriors acquired Buddy from the 76ers in a six-team trade. He came at age 31 to a team that has the three-point shooting king in Curry and plays a lot of motion offenses.

It’s as if after eight NBA seasons, with four different teams, Buddy has found his house of happiness.

“I continue to preach to everyone that it’s about the right intention, the right mentality, being together and then making sacrifices, starting with leaders Steph, Draymond and Steve,” Hield said. “Everyone comes together as one and everyone puts each other first.

“Steph is one of the most humble superstars to ever exist. The way he carries himself, both on and off the basketball court. I just watch them and then try to follow the footsteps. Just looking up to them and in a way that makes me see basketball in a different way than previous teams.

Buddy’s accuracy is unsustainable. But he’s a career 40 percent shooter from beyond the arc, and he’s accomplished that without sharing the court with Curry or anyone else whose three-point shot is atop the opponent’s scouting report.

Buddy finally has enough room to breathe and benefits from an attack that matches his constant movement and is often defended by players from the opponent’s second unit. And sometimes he shares the court with Curry.

Hield came off the bench and was the team’s top scorer in the first two games, with a total of 49 points in 35 minutes. He has fun and sets nets on fire.

“He was like Buddy from Oklahoma again, the way he moves and finds shots,” Green said after Hield scored 27 points on 10-for-14 shooting, including 7-for-9 from deep against the Jazz.

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

That shouldn’t be that difficult. A good person always takes care of his Buddy.

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