Unpopular opinion here, but I truly believe that Hayward has been better than Brown this season. At the very least, he contibutes to team success more than Brown does.
Both Hayward and Brown are efficient scorers. Hayward is a better passer. Brown is a better defender. Imo, we need Hayward's passing more than we need Brown's defense. The only player on the roster with pass-first mentality might be Smart. Kemba is a willing passer, but he's a score-first PG. Wanamaker averages good assists numbers, only because he plays within his limitations. He ain't a pass-first guard. The C's are 25th in the league in assists per game. We desperately need Hayward's passing. He keeps everyone involved on offense, hence he keeps everyone happy.
Basketball is a team game. Replace Hayward with a score-first wing and the C's will become a dysfunctional team, like we were last season. This is the #1 reason I don't want us to trade Hayward.
Hayward HAS been more impactful towards winning (than Brown OR Tatum), at least as measured using Win Shares. And that shouldn't really be surprising. He's a much more experienced, all-star level player who is getting paid a max contract for a reason. His skills are far more developed and broad-based. He affects so many more aspects of the game. There are very few things that need to be done on the court that Hayward doesn't do in an above average, positive way.
Jaylen is 6 years younger. He's still (steadily) adding new skills each year.
That said, Jaylen is at this point well ahead of where Gordon was back when he was in his age 23 season and looks to have a long-term upside that is much higher, health permitting.
Don't know about the ''much higher upside'' part. Hate to say it, but Jaylen is a one-dimentional offensive player. He can create shots for himself. He cannot create shots for his teammates (not consistently anyway). If you ask me, this is a big whole in his game. I don't think he will ever become an above average passer.
To a lesser extent, Tatum is one-dimentional as well. Having said that, I'm confident that he will become a more willing passer in the future. Yesterday's game was a good indicator of his potential as a passer. He was coming off of an abysmal performance against the Bucks. He responded by picking his spots wisely, hence he recorded 8 assists and only 2 turnovers! That's how he should be playing in every game!
Fortunately basketball is played on both ends of the court - Jaylen and Tatum don't need to be the offensive player Hayward is to leave him in the dust in terms of player impact.
Imo Jaylen's issue is that he doesn't get enough opportunities on-ball to develop those skills in game. He's certainly not a good passer right now, but Brad putting him in that off-ball role doesn't help.
He can't play on the ball, cause he ain't a good ball handler though. I'm perfectly fine with the way CBS uses him. Can't think of a better way to maximize his impact on the court.
Don't get me wrong, I'm a fan of Brown's game. I just like Hayward's game a bit more. I've said it before in the trade threads. Imo, Hayward is our 3rd best player.
Tatum > Kemba > Hayward > Brown > Smart > Theis > Kanter > meh
(I'm talking about this season. The C's got plenty of promising prospects going forward.)
I don’t think that’s a valid criticism of Brown’s game any longer. His handle is pretty solid. He’s good at generating space for himself, and his burgeoning ability to shoot off the dribble from anywhere makes defenders quite afraid of him when he starts dribbling. However, he’s too turnover prone given his lack of passing nous as it stands, so I definitely get it if you don’t think he’s up to assuming ball-handling duties.
However, getting back to the OP. Love to see some Hayward love around here. He quietly put together a really strong Feb-March spell, upping his basic box numbers to 18-8-5-1-1. Glad to see that carry over.
He’s the best passer of our 3 wings (and maybe the whole team - it’s he or Smart), the 2nd best rebounder (although they’re all on a similar level there), and the most efficient scorer. However, as many have noted, he’s the worst defender. That being said, I still think he’s above average. He’s got good positioning and reads well. It’s just Tatum is an elite team defender and Brown can clamp people. Not to mention Smart.
Hope he sticks around for years!