Hayward not picking up his option would be silly to me. He’s not going to make 34 mil this year anywhere else. Regardless of how well or poorly he plays this season, I don’t see him signing less than a 4yr/80 anywhere. A team will give him that even if he’s below average this year.
Hayward looking around isn’t surprising. He may be in the mind set of I just need to move on from Boston. I can’t imagine the pressure he is feeling after his unfortunate string of injuries have derailed his Boston tenure.
However, Hayward opting out and signing elsewhere is the absolute worst case scenario for Boston. We lose a player with max talent potential (key word potential), we get no assets in return, and it doesn’t help our cap situation in any way.
It absolutely kills some Boston sports fans to hear Hayward has max potential still. 17.5/6.5 and 4.5 with his percentages way down the pecking order and they don’t see that as max talent. Riiiight.
#'s are there but durability isn't. He's played in 50% of our games as a Celtic, is that worth max potential? If he's not there when we need him most what good is he?
There has been a lot of questioning "would we have beat ... if Hayward was healthy" the fact we ask that time and time again to me is the problem with Hayward.
Yup. All correct. I just wish people in Boston could admit what’s their when he’s been healthy. It’s like trying to talk politics with people that dislike Hayward. Like “ omg I’m not disagreeing with ya ( to my buddy) he HAS NOT been available. I’m just simply stating what I think he is when healthy. “ Crickets. It’s a conversation ender. There’s such dislike for him people won’t admit that as if the admission from them means he stays. It won’t matter. Danny isn’t listening to any of us. It’s mind boggling.
I don't think anybody really dislikes Hayward - your post is a bit inflammatory and perhaps you are trying to evoke a strong reaction from the hypothetical other side. We all acknowledge that Hayward fits perfectly in our system and has proven he doesn't mind taking a back seat/filling in the gaps. We all realize that it has to have been incredibly frustrating for him to come to a situation where he should be competing for championships, but instead has been rehabbing for much of his time here.
From the perspective of Cs fans, I think most could go either way because while we realize he is a very good player, he has seemingly been cursed from the very beginning with this franchise. Committing long term money to him at a lower AAV could work out very well, but it could also be a disaster.
As for johnboy's comments about Ray and Al - Ray Allen left a championship core for less money because he didn't like management (thus, upsetting his teammates); he then hit the shot that essentially won MIA/Lebron a Title. With Al, I think most here believe that we dodged a bullet. If he had gone to any team other than the Sixers or Lakers, we would be wishing him well. Since he went to our rival, of course we are going to root against him; but I think people generally appreciate what he gave to this franchise and will think fondly of him when he has moved on.