SACRAMENTO – On multiple occasions since joining the Warriors as part of a historic six-team trade over the offseason, Buddy Hield has said he probably wouldn’t have been drafted so high if it weren’t for his new teammate Steph Curry. As Curry was winning his second straight NBA MVP, Hield was putting on a 3-point clinic of his own during his senior season at Oklahoma.
His flare for the long ball led to him winning every major college award imaginable before being taken No. 6 overall by the Sacramento Kings in the 2016 draft. A handful of seasons have passed since Hield last wore a Kings jersey, but he certainly reminded his former team of what it’s like when he gets hot from deep, scoring a game-high 22 points off the bench in the Warriors’ 122-112 preseason win Wednesday night at Golden 1 Center while going 6 of 7 from 3-point range.
Steve Kerr’s offense always has been heavily influenced by 3-pointers. The Splash Brothers of Curry and Klay Thompson already were in Golden State before Kerr arrived in 2014, though his offensive mind took them both to another level. Newcomers seem to thrive beyond the arc in Kerr’s system, too.
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So, it was easy to envision Hield making a seamless splash of his own in a Warriors jersey under Kerr. But it’s a new addition to the Warriors’ coaching staff that is paying off in major ways already as well. Kerr brought in former Portland Trail Blazers head coach Terry Stotts to help his offense, and players like Hield should thrive.
“The stuff that we’re putting in with Terry, the Portland stuff, you saw some of that in the second half,” Kerr said after the win. “The flares, Buddy is built for that.”
Stotts spent nine seasons as the Blazers’ head coach from 2012 through 2021, winning 402 regular-season games and reaching the playoffs in all but his first season. An undersized, yet sharp-shooting backcourt of Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum excelled in Portland under Stotts, unlocking their 3-point prowess and even reaching the Western Conference Finals against the Warriors in 2019 as a small-market team that wasn’t akin to adding superstars, instead getting the best out of its talent within.
While Hield was hot as a Sacramento summer day shooting the ball, it was a time when he gave the ball up that showcased a staple of Stotts and Kerr together.
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The Warriors, to start the fourth quarter, ran a play to free up Hield for a three in the corner, but it wasn’t there. What happened next was a split action with Kyle Anderson in the post and finished with Brandin Podziemski laying in two points at the rim.
“That was a Terry Stotts action, the Portland stuff that he ran with Dame and CJ,” Kerr explained. “Part of the idea of bringing Terry was that his offense resembles ours, but had more structure based on personnel. What was interesting about that play was it was all old Portland stuff. And then we didn’t get anything, and then it came back to the split game that we’ve been running forever.
“So that’s what I like about some of the stuff that we’ve been trying to add is it seems to blend well, what they did and what we’ve already done.”
For more than a decade, the Warriors – led by Curry of course – have been credited with revolutionizing the 3-point shot. This season, they’re looking to up the ante, already having attempted 100 threes through their first two preseason games. They shot 52 Wednesday night, making 28, which would have been a franchise record if it were a regular-season game.
Those 28 threes also gave them a 63-point advantage behind the 3-point line. When asked what he liked most about the looks of the threes, Podziemski, who had a game-high eight assists, credited ball movement and everyone being involved in the offense. Unprompted, his answer also included praise for Stotts.
“Shout out to Coach Terry,” Podziemski said. “He drew up some good stuff out of timeouts that gave us some easy looks, too.”
Throughout the preseason, Kerr will relegate duties to his assistant coaches in games. As the game progressed, Stotts was seen handling the offense and getting everyone on the same page while Kerr observed from afar. The Kings made it a 3-point game with three-and-a-half minutes to go when Kerr had seen enough and called a timeout.
In those 60 seconds, Stotts had control of the offense and made sure Sacramento never got within striking distance again. Lindy Waters III immediately hit a three coming out of the timeout. Waters made another three one minute later to increase the Warriors’ lead to 11 points, and a Reece Beekman 3-pointer with three-plus minutes remaining was the cherry on top that put the game out of reach, putting the Warriors up by 14 points.
“He’s very good at communication,” Jonathan Kuminga, who scored 16 points and made four 3-pointers, said. “He’s been a head coach and he knows what he’s doing. Every time he sees something and he’s helping us on the offensive end. He’s out there just trying to communicate as much as he can.
“It’s helping us for sure.”
Kerr and Stotts coached against each other on opposite sidelines for seven seasons, seeing each other three times in the playoffs – all of which ended in favor of the Warriors. As early as it is, combining forces is the perfect offensive creation by the two that these Warriors are warmly embracing.