Could be that Hayward is squeezing out some of the PT of the younger players who are on the rise.
If you think Brown is on the rise, this year, run don't walk, to Lenscrafters!
I think his point is that Hayward's inclusion has not allowed the progression of the younger players from last year's stellar play.
I could see it not allowing progression. What I couldn't see was massive regression from almost every player
Yeah, the whole "Hayward = Youngsters' Regression" theory doesn't fly with me at all. Even if they're getting fewer shots because of Hayward, that's no excuse for making them at a lower rate.
I really think it's an attitude/effort issue which is mental. They get mentally down on themselves if they miss and then it affects their effort on the defensive end. Then they need a jolt (like a 20 point deficit) to change gears.The fact that they're able to come back after falling behind a lot a number of times this year already shows it's totally a mental issue.
Also last year Brown, Tatum and Rozier all had a lot to prove, Tatum that he belonged in the NBA, Brown and Rozier that they deserved to start. Anything good they did was a bonus, we were playing with house money after Gordon went down. This year they're all established and getting tons of plaudits. Not to say it went to their head necessarily but I think it lulled them into a false sense of complacency about how they got there in the first place - by playing hard, not letting their heads drop after missing shots, and always being committed on defense.
And it's not like the offense was much better last year, though they did shoot 3s better - our offense wasn't anything special and we can go back to a number of game threads from last year where we were pulling our hair out over their ugly offense but our poor offense never affected our defensive commitment. This year for whatever reason, not sure if it's communication or whatever, they don't seem to be able to maintain that defensive commitment throughout the game. It's almost like they are too consumed in showing what they can do offensively to put the ball in the hole that other facets of their game has been neglected. E.g. Jaylen's % of total rebounds grabbed has gone from 9.1% to 8.8% to 7.6% in the 3 years he has been in the league. His assists are down, steals are down. This after his minutes have only gone down by 2 from 30 to 28 and his usage rate 20% is virtually identical to last year.
That said you can't really blame just the young guys - as a whole the team is struggling with its identity.