Buddy Hield addressed booing Kings fans Wednesday night, following a demoralizing 127-123 loss to the visiting Dallas Mavericks.
Hield, 27, says he understands their growing frustration.
Sacramento (15-26) has thus far fallen well short of expectations.
Per The Sac Bee:
“Everybody’s frustrated, not only them,” Kings guard Buddy Hield said. “We’re trying to figure it out, too, but if it’s the home team (and) you get booed – we don’t agree with it, but they’re going to voice their opinion. I understand their frustration. … That’s how Sacramento fans are, so you’ve got to embrace it. It’s fun, though. You’ve just got to keep competing. They want to win. They need to get back to the playoffs, so I feel their pain.”
This might be harsh given extended injury absences for De’Aaron Fox, Marvin Bagley III, Bogdan Bogdanovic and, now, Richaun Holmes. Those four players have combined to miss 63 games and counting, and maybe there’s no way to overcome that, but the Kings have flat-out failed to reach their potential. Maybe it’s coming. Maybe it’s not.
“We’ve talked about it all year,” (head coach Luke) Walton said. “It’s one of those things that, when we have the fastest point guard in the league, we’re going to play fast. When he’s hurt, we’re not going to play as fast, but just as important – probably more important than our pace – is we have to get better at executing offensive sets, crunch-time package that we have towards the end, down the stretch, final five minutes, how we want to play. Those are things that we spend a lot of time focusing on, watching film on, that are just as important as pace. And, so, yes, the pace is getting better, but it’s not the only thing we’re focused on.”
