By ADAM ZAGORIA
HOUSTON — The phrase “It’s Better in the Bahamas” may soon apply to more than just turquoise waters and powdery beaches.
It may cover basketball players as well.
The way Buddy Hield tells it, the island is rich with young hoopers who just need a chance to showcase their talents.
“There’s always young talent coming up,” Hield said in the Oklahoma locker room at NRG Stadium in advance of Saturday’s Final Four games. “You see DeAndre Ayton, he’s a blessing. So just having guys like him. There’s a lot of guys down there who nobody’s seen and they just need somebody to come look at them.”
According to basketball-reference.com, only three Bahamian-born basketball players have competed in the ABA or NBA, and the only one you’ve likely ever heard of is Mychal Thompson, the former No. 1 overall pick and the father of Golden State Warriors sharpshooter Klay Thompson.
But here comes the 6-foot-4 Hield, the runner-up to Michigan State’s Denzel Valentine for the Associated Press Player of the Year award and a projected Top-10 pick in this year’s NBA Draft. And by 2018, the 7-foot Ayton could potentially be the No. 1 overall pick.
“He’s special right now,” Hield said of Ayton, a big man born in the Bahamas who now plays for Phoenix (AZ) Hillcrest Academy. “I think he’s good for the NBA now. His physical talents he can rebound the ball. He’s just a talent, man. You just can’t teach height.”
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EsjhnAA385k]
Ayton, who will play for the World Team in the Nike Hoop Summit on April 9 in Portland, Ore., is being courted by Kentucky, Duke and Kansas, among others.
“I let him do what he wanna do, nobody told me what to do [for college],” Hield said. “He’s going to pursue his own dreams, I’m sure he can go to any school in American he wants. Whatever school he wants to go to, I’m all for it. I can’t force him to go to Oklahoma.”
Hield grew up with six brothers and sisters in the Eight Mile Rock neighborhood in Freeport. ESPN’s’ Jeff Goodman recently visted Hield’s family there and Tweeted a picture of a homemade basketball hoop Hield made of crates and plywood.
One of Buddy Hield’s homemade hoops here on his street in Eight Mile Rock in Freeport. pic.twitter.com/1U9bKZ9sxR
– Jeff Goodman (@GoodmanESPN) March 29, 2016
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Hield and Ayton were both discovered and brought to the U.S.
Kyle Lindsted, then the coach at Sunrise Christian Academy and now an assistant at Wichita State, told CBSSports.com how he discovered Hield at a showcase run by Darrell Sears.
“I went down to a showcase every year to watch young Bahamian kids play that are looking for high schools in the states,” Lindsted said. “I saw Buddy and immediately offered him a scholarship. I just kind of fell in love with him and his game and his personality. I guess you could say that I got lucky.”
While both Lindsted and Hield got lucky, Buddy says there are other guys with talent in the Bahamas who just never made it out.
“Man, they was better talent than me growing up but kids didn’t have the resources to come to America, whether it’s attitude or they didn’t have the money or the opportunity I did,” Hield said. “There were a lot of kids I feel were much better than me but I just was one of the few selected who had the opportunity to come over here and pursue my dream.”
Asked if anyone stuck out in his memory, he mentioned a guard named Kiplin Fowler.
“He was real good, he was like a Deron Williams type,” he said. “I kid you not. I swear, I ain’t joking. He was that good. He came to America but he didn’t have strong guidance from his family as a backbone.”
Asked what happened to guys like Fowler, Hield said, “They’re back home just chilling. That’s what guys do, they just give up. But thank God I didn’t give up on my dreams. Sometimes when guys don’t go off to school they just end up working and just being home and just give up on it.”
Now Hield will be an inspiration to a new generation of Bahamian players when he hears his name called this June by NBA Commissioner Adam Silver.
“It means a lot,” he said. “I hope kids get to use my story as an advantage and show that no matter where you come from you can always make it.”
Asked what he will do with his first NBA paycheck, Hield said he plans to build a court in his hometown of Eight Mile Rock.
“Hopefully if I get some more money I’ll be able to build a court in my hometown,” he said.
And what else?
His mother, Jackie Braynen, will likely live with him in whatever NBA city he lands in.
“I’m sure she’s going to put the money in church first and after that just build her a house,” Hield said of his plans. “I know she’s been wanting a house for a long time….I just want to take care of my mom, build her a house in America, make sure she’s taken care of.”
His grandmother, meantime, may also move in with Hield and his mother.
“I’m going to fix [her house in the Bahamas] up but most likely my grandmother will move in with my mom because them too are so close,” he said.
Hield’s advice for college coaches and NBA scouts looking for the next Buddy Hield or DeAndre Ayton: Go check out the Bahamas.
