Kyrie stated he was excited about getting getting on the court with a 2 guard like Hayward who can shoot and make plays. As incredible as Baynes has been, Hayward has to be tried at the 2 to see what we have with our top lineup.
Even if there's growing pains and time spent to getting getting GH's legs under him, this is the lineup that is going to be matching up with GS and Toronto.
Any time used for building that chemistry is well spent. Maybe you take him out realitivly early for Smart, Morris. or Baynes so that you could bring him back early in the second quarter to run point as the primary ball handler until you put Kyrie back in and they finish the game in the same backcourt.
Not sure I like Bench Hayward but I'd try out staggered Hayward.
This notion that Hayward is a 2 has to be dispelled. During his last year with the Jazz, a top defensive team, he played as a 3 and 4. Played the 4 mostly during playoffs.
I think you're getting too hung up on traditional positions, which neither we nor the '16-'17 playoff Jazz implemented. The Jazz mostly started Gobert/Diaw/Hayward/Ingles/Hill (when they were all healthy), but 5 of their top 6 guys in MPG over the playoffs were guards/wings.
That's very similar to what we will be doing this season, with Kyrie, GH, Al, JT, JB, TRoz, Marcus x2 and Baynes being our top 10 guys. There are only two bigs in that lot, and Al is by no means a banger down low.
Offensively, Hayward will be a ball-handling and playmaking wing, whereas I think JB will most likely handle the ball less than him, and work more off the ball. Defensively I think JB will guard 2's mostly, because of his athleticism. Ultimately, it doesn't really matter because, as Brad has said, we don't adhere to the PG/SG/SF/PF/C lineup, but more general classifications.
And to OP's point, I don't think it will matter for a couple of reasons. Chiefly, Hayward is a vastly underrated defender, and gives us a lot more versatility on that end than Baynes does, and on the other end we are almost immeasurably more dangerous with Hayward than with Baynes.