In his first season as a Sacramento Kings manager, Luke Walton made the bold and immediately divisive decision to move Buddy Hield to the bench in favor of Bogdan Bogdanovic in an attempt to breathe new life into the team.
The move came just one season after Hield led the Kings to score 20.7 points per game with 45.8% of the shots from the field, including 42.7% of the 3-point shots. Meanwhile, Bogdanovic averaged 14.1 points, 3.8 assists, 3.5 rebounds and one theft per game in 70 appearances in the 2018-19 season.
It’s not clear whether moving Hield on the bench was the right move for Walton, but the Kings certainly benefited from the lineup, going from 15-29 with Hield in the starting lineup to 13-7 with Hield on the bench. Their net score also improved from -3.5 to +2.2 with Bogdanovic in initial training.
Hield and Bogdanovic both had productive nights in the Kings’ scrimmage game against LA Clippers on Monday, with Bogdanovic leading the way with 21 game points high on 7-15 shots from the field, including 4-10 shots from behind the bow .
With the kings’ first significant game in nearly four months scheduled for Friday, Luke Walton spoke about Bogdanovic’s importance to the team’s post-season aspirations and how scrimmage games helped everyone settle into their roles.
“I think the scrimmages were good for everyone: coaches, players, referees,” said Walton on Monday. “I think the longer we start playing live-speed, the more comfortable he will feel, but if we are successful here, it will have to be an important part of this. We will need him to play well and play consistently well when these eight games start. “
That’s not to say that Hield won’t play a huge role in these seeding games, but the Kings know what they have in Hield, for better or for worse. Bogdanovic, in his third season in the NBA, is still growing, and may be the X-Factor Sacramento needs to break their 14-year playoff drought.
It all starts on Friday.
