On Buddy Hield’s napalm shooting, off-ball movement, and… defense? Defense!

Hield is on a heater to start the season — while also being a positive on defense.

The burgeoning love affair between Golden State Warriors fans and fresh acquisition Buddy Hield can be traced from just how much of an awesome shooter he’s proving to be. A preseason line of 12.2 points on 48.7% shooting from beyond the arc (on 6.5 attempts, 19-of-39 total) can be enough to make one smitten — scoring 49 points in your first two regular season games on 69.2% from the field and a 12-of-16 clip on threes (!!!) is enough to make you risk it all.

That’s a completely valid reason to be sold on Hield. But there are other facets of his game during the first two regular season contests that may be more attractive than his napalm shooting. Take, for example, a certain two-possession sequence during the Warriors’ drubbing of the Portland Trail Blazers. At the 1:39 mark of the first quarter — while the Blazers are taking free throws courtesy of Kris Murray — Steve Kerr signals to his players the play for the subsequent half-court possession. In a non-inconspicuous manner (that is, if you pay attention to the things happening on the sideline), he flashes a “thumbs up” sign:

Which is the call to go into their one of their “Thumb” series actions. The one they run involves a wide away screen, a pass to the player coming off of that screen, and double stagger action on the weak side, particularly for Hield. The set is delayed momentarily due to De’Anthony Melton trying to self-create — but he gets back to the program, passes the ball to Brandin Podziemski, and fakes the screen for Hield with a cut. Hield then comes off of the Kevon Looney away screen for a three-point look, made possible by Looney’s screen and the Blazers playing drop coverage.

The following defensive possession, however, is what raised my eyebrow — and certainly a whole lot of other eyebrows. With the Warriors being able to set their half-court defense properly due to a successful offensive possession, the Blazers try to run an “Angle” pick-and-roll for Anfernee Simons, who is their main scoring threat and the nightly priority of opponent scouting reports. As such, the Warriors choose to play a relatively more aggressive coverage instead of dropping Looney back. While that may successfully get the ball out of Simons’ hands, the risk they incur is the possibility of a 4-on-3 situation when the pass is made to the screener in the short roll (a setup Draymond Green has feasted out of over the last decade).

Looney is forced to jump out higher than normally comfortable to align himself with the screen set by Donovan Clingan. To account for that potentially compromising setup, watch where Hield preemptively positions himself:

By positioning himself preemptively at the “nail” (the area approximating the middle of the free-throw line), Hield is in perfect help position. He’s more than willing to leave his man (Murray) temporarily, knowing that a long skip pass to the weak-side wing is a risky pass; if the pass gets there anyway, he would have more than enough time to either recover back to Murray or “x-out” (more on that in a bit) should Melton choose to rotate toward Murray.

As such, the decision by Hield to patrol the short roll works in his favor — and further impresses with his subsequent effort against Simons in one-on-one defense:

Peppered in among the more eye-popping sequences such as the one above was more of the subtle nuances Hield displayed as a defender. Take note of the previous mention of the “x-out” — defined as a weak-side rotation in which multiple defenders swap matchups to guard open perimeter players, which creates a literal “X” in their paths of recovery. What makes this concept difficult to pull off is the amount of communication and connectivity it requires between the two defenders involved.

It is extremely easy for both defenders to look at where the ball is headed toward, rotate toward the same man, and make themselves vulnerable to a swing pass to the man left open, whether in the corner or on the wing. A successful x-out takes away both options simultaneously — which is what happens below when Hield has the wherewithal to close out toward the wing instead of the corner:

Of course, the sequence above was prefaced by yet another Hield three, off of a broken “Thumb” action set where Hield had to improvise with his off-ball movement and shooting chops around a ball screen:

The early season effort from Hield on the end of the floor where he wasn’t expected to largely contribute is akin to finding an 11th chicken nugget in your 10-piece box. Yet at the same time, Hield surviving on that end at the very least is a prerequisite for him to stay on the floor. Not only has he survived — he’s thrived. That trend continued against the Utah Jazz, where flashes of Hield’s effort on defense again took center stage along with his red-hot shooting.

Hield’s anticipatory chops as a defender is the standout trait. Much like how he anticipated the Clingan short roll and took it away, he anticipates the pass to Walker Kessler below and intercepts the pass, which triggers the break and garners him an easy transition layup:

So far in this early season, Hield has been the Warriors’ most lethal transition weapon. Lose track of him for whatever reason — Stephen Curry garnering more attention, paint touches collapsing the defense, etc. — and Hield will make you pay. It also doesn’t help that he has the movement tools to shake off his defender if he is being actively marked in transition.

When the Warriors get a stop and trigger the break, Hield runs along the right side to fill the lane. He makes sure to convince his man that he’s aiming to cut toward the paint — before stopping short and backtracking his way behind the three-point line:

The Hield flurry was mostly comprised of transition opportunities such as the one above. Truth be told, the Jazz’s transition defense left a lot to be desired. Hield probably won’t get the same quality of looks against much better teams — or at the very least, will be subjected to second or third efforts if those gaps happen against quality defenses.

But some of the half-court looks he was able to receive was both a testament to his individual prowess as a shooter and his near-perfect fit in this offense. At the 1:06 mark of the first quarter, the Warriors run a typical low-post split with a direct feed to the right block. As the passer to the post, Hield is typically the one considered as the screener for the teammate next to him. Since that teammate is Jonathan Kuminga — not considered a threatening movement shooter — Hield leads his defender toward the elbow to set the screen below the three-point line for Kuminga. Or at least, that’s what it looks like at first.

Perhaps in anticipation of the screen for Kuminga, Hield’s man (Collin Sexton) slightly separates himself from Hield to prepare for a switch. But that’s exactly what Hield wants — once Sexton detaches himself ever so slightly, Hield reveals himself as the real recipient by running off of the Kuminga screen, turning back, and making himself available behind the line:

Hield is a fast absorber of the Warriors’ movement concepts. He certainly has the ideal shooting partner/teacher in Curry, who most likely taught Hield the maneuver above — as Curry has done it himself plenty of times in the past:

As such, Hield made sure to praise Curry for being a selfless veteran and a factor behind his early success within this Warriors ecosystem.

“Steph is one of the humblest superstars I’ve been around,” Hield said after their win against the Jazz. “The way he carries himself on and off the basketball court… I see basketball in a different way than I did on previous teams.”

If the Warriors continue to see this different version of Hield than the version that played in previous teams, the rewards for acquiring the ultimate three-and-D piece to replace the one they lost will most certainly be reaped.