Four years of college hoops transformed Buddy Hield into "Buddy Buckets" and skyrocketed his draft stock.
He would have been a fringe first-rounder had he left Oklahoma a year earlier, but delaying his decision allowed him to strike when the iron was hottest. With both the Wooden Award and Naismith Trophy on his resume, Hield lasted just six selections into the 2016 talent grab, where the New Orleans Pelicans gladly snatched him up.
"We targeted Buddy. He's the guy we wanted here," Pelicans general manager Dell Demps said, per ESPN.com's Justin Verrier. "We wanted Buddy in a Pelican uniform.