It’s everyone who expected Gordon to be back to all star form already. This was a SERIOUS injury and it’s goin to take time to make it all the way back. If he’s all the way back by playoffs that would be amazing but if not I think everyone should just hope he’s back to Utah Gordon for next season - and I believe he will be.
I think everyone in the org expects him to be an integral part of our future still - it just may not be this season. No need to get so worked up about him. He’s working his way back and doing his best.
In hindsight what they should have done with Gordon, after he had to have the second surgery, was to shut him down for the whole year, like Philly has done to Embiid, Simmons, Fultz, Zhaire Smith. Have him complete his rehab and everything away from the public and unforgiving eyes of media and fans in a team that is expected to contend for the championship. To contend for a championship every piece needs to be working. In the day to day rollercoaster of a championship push, nobody remembers what happened to you a year ago. People have short memories, they judge you on how they see you now, so you're only as good as your last game. Let him be criticized for sitting out the whole year and "count his millions", at least the team can be blamed for taking a conservative approach, as opposed to people getting frustrated with his inconsistency day in and day out. Then he could have come back next year and been in a much better position to succeed.
But I guess he wanted to play...the reality is that he is back, and here, and he needs to figure out how to fit into the offense, how to impact the game in the 20-24 mins and the 18% usage that he gets a game. It won't be easy for him as he's not a microwave scorer who can provide instant offense soon as he gets in, he's more of an amplifier type player who makes everyone around him better and for that he needs minutes. But who will the minutes come from? Everyone needs minutes.
Personally, after the first week I revised my expectations of Hayward, it was obvious he had a long road ahead of him. I suspect that Danny and Brad have a long term approach as well - as fans we get caught in the here and now but those guys are probably thinking about how the team will look years into the future and what roles each player has to play in that. I suspect they both think that Gordon has a significant role to play in that future, so even if he's costing us $30m now he gets through this year, has a full offseason, some guys are traded for a superstar package to sacrifice quantity for quality, and he ends up being a significant contributor on a championship team 2 years from now they will regard the max contract as money well spent. But right now...we deserve more for our (their) money than 2ppg, [dang it]!
Topic: The problem is not Gordon Hayward (Read 4332 times)