re: Hayward and aggressiveness, I can't think of many instances when he took over in crunch time by getting into the teeth of the defense and either passing out or getting a great shot within 10 feet.
There were definitely times that the team needed that.
Also I can't think of too many times where Hayward was playing with mostly bench guys and he took over on offense to keep the team afloat while Tatum / Brown / Kemba were sitting.
That's something else you'd hope to see from your 3rd / 4th option who you know has the talent to score 20+.
Hayward to me is an elite version of Joe Ingles. He's always been that. On a team that needs to run the offense through him he can score 20-24 points a game. But it's not in his nature to be a pure scorer / offensive workhorse.
These are good thoughts. I think Hayward is a much better version of Ingles (ie not even comparable) but I get it. The Jazz coaches constantly were begging Hayward to shoot more. I think we've seen a pattern with him.
He's a great player. Unselfish, versatile, smart, tough, etc. But he's not a reliable lead scorer. That's just not how he is wired.
I would much rather the Cs find a way to keep him and win a championship with him. I hope he gets a championship. He deserves it.
This is really the problem a lot Cs fans have with him. They expect a max player to be a Harden type, someone who will dominate the scoring, be the No1 option, be the takeover guy. It's almost offensive to some fans that he's getting paid max money to be a No.4 option. Unfortunately the market determines a player's value and that's what the market determined Hayward's value was. They said the same of Al Horford but because Gordon is a versatile player who can contribute in many different ways, some of those ways don't necessarily show up on the scoreboard. But unfortunately for us there's not enough money to go around to keep everyone so either Hayward will have to take a haircut along with Kemba or we lose one or both of them eventually and if we're going to lose either of them we definitely need to get something back.
I don't know if fans are offended that he is getting paid max money because of his role. By no fault of his own, much of his tenure with the Cs has been spent either injured or at less than 100%. If he had spent the last three seasons/post-seasons contributing as he had this season, I think people would more or less be satisfied with what Hayward has done. How often do we hear, "With a healthy Hayward..." in posts defending him and the team.
Horford was even less productive and, while he had his detractors, I think people more or less appreciated what he brought to our franchise for 3 years. There are so many 'what ifs' with Hayward that it difficult to look at his time with the Cs in an objective manner w/o bringing up the injuries.
And none of this is to say that I wouldn't gladly take him back on a 4yr renegotiated contract; I just think that ship has likely sailed.
Topic: Woj: Hayward to Charlotte (4 years, $120 million) (Read 246734 times)