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Gordon Hayward in at #10 on NBA.com MVP Race

This brings back fond memories of the debates we had about maxing Hayward. Some of us are just smarter than others, I guess.
 
JustTheTip said:
If you keep on calling him a troll, and continue to engage him, then who is really the troll?
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mission accomplished. Boris. Northcolorado jazz to name a few.

Engaging with troll doesn't make you a troll... it makes you the catch that they snagged with their trolling.
 
JustTheTip said:
This brings back fond memories of the debates we had about maxing Hayward. Some of us are just smarter than others, I guess.
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No that means that some people were right about that particular discussion and some were wrong.
 
JustTheTip said:
Semantics, but fine. Some people are right more often than others.
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Oh certainly. And some people are in fact smarter than others.
I dont think being right about one particular basketball discussions means either thing though.
 
Steady, solid work has paved Utah's go-to guy emergence as bonafide All-Star, superstar

Kia Race to the MVP Ladder: Gordon Hayward raises his play (and that of Jazz, too)

Steady, solid work has paved Utah's go-to guy emergence as bonafide All-Star, superstar

Sekou Smith NBA.com
February 10th, 2017

Gordon Hayward’s NBA master plan always included the individual glory -- All-Star teams, perhaps an All-NBA nod and all of the benefits that come with those accolades.

They just never ranked above or were supposed to come at the expense of team goals.

The Utah Jazz swingman will get a chance to enjoy both this season, what with his team on course for potentially a top-four spot in the Western Conference playoff chase and the invitation to New Orleans for next week’s All-Star festivities already in hand.

His slow grind to this point, though, makes the journey that much more enjoyable.

“The biggest challenge for me is always doing whatever I can do to help us get wins,” Hayward said. “Especially with the way I play, the individual awards are going to come through the team success. Trying to help us close out games when they are tight, that's when the biggest challenges come, trying to learn decision-making at the end of games. What can I do better to help us win those games.”

The 6-foot-8, 226-pound Hayward certainly looks the part of an All-Star, averaging career highs in points (22.2) and rebounds (5.7) this season for the top team in the Northwest Division. He logged his career-best eighth 30-point game of the season -- earned Thursday in an overtime loss to Dallas -- and could pile up plenty more with 28 games left in the regular season.

But Hayward's doing more than just leading the Jazz in scoring this season. He’s leading on and off the court, having found his groove in his seventh season in the league. In addition to the steady scoring increase every season, Jazz coach Quin Snyder said he’s impressed with the other significant improvements in Hayward’s game.

“His defense, he’s always taking the challenge of the individual matchups,” Snyder said. “When you are asking a player to do as much as we ask him to do ... for us, offensively we needed him to be a playmaker in addition to a scorer. And there's a tendency to, it’s the one area of the game other than time outs where you can find a way to rest, so sometimes off the ball he’s let his focus go. And that’s happened less and less frequently and it’s something he's really taken pride in [improving]. It takes energy during a game, particularly on the defensive end, and that's an area where I’ve seen him really improve in and it helps our team defense.”

What works for Hayward might not work for everyone else. After all, he didn’t necessarily follow the same All-Star path as many of his colleagues. He wasn’t an elite scorer or McDonald’s All-American in high school and he only dabbled with stardom at Butler, guiding the Bulldogs to the NCAA title game against Duke in his final campaign, before taking the leap to the NBA Draft in 2010.

It takes time to develop the suit of superstar armor needed to withstand the intense spotlight that comes with being the bell cow of playoff team. It's a fit Hayward is admittedly still working on. It’s a process he’s been working through, getting the All-Star treatment without the official designation, for some time.

“I think I’ve felt that for a couple years now,” said Hayward, who had to adjust from playing an individual sport (tennis) at an elite level growing up to immersing himself in the nuances of the ultimate team sport. And it's definitely a huge adjustment for you, when teams have you on the scouting report and you are one of the top names on the scouting report. It's just a different game. You're not getting nearly as many open looks. But I think having those experiences has helped me a lot.

“I had to struggle first before I could find some success. Teammates and coaches help you through those moments, its not an individual thing, like tennis when you’re put there by yourself, you’ve got four other guys out there on the court with you. There are assistant coaches watching film with you, encouraging you and showing you what you did wrong and how you can improve it. So I think having those teammates and coaches there helps you get through those moments.”
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10. Gordon Hayward, Utah Jazz
Last week: No. 10

Hayward has been on a tear recently, particularly since learning that he’d earned his first All-Star bid. The Jazz have solidified themselves as a legitimate top-four Western Conference team behind the work of Hayward, who has improved dramatically on both ends this season. (28.6 points, 6.0 rebounds, 3.6 assists, 1.6 steals in his last five games).
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https://www.nba.com/article/2017/02...ward-surges-leader-jazz?collection=mvp-ladder

I was going to use this post to bump the previous thread I made, but I thought it deserved its own thread. Hayward got a whole piece dedicated to him and it was on the Kia Race to the MVP Ladder part of NBA.com of all places. As the thread title states Hayward gets dubbed a bonafide All-Star and superstar. Hayward is now getting tons of national attention and could end up on an All-NBA team which will only help us to re-sign him. I'm so ****ing giddy this is amazing and I hope it shows Hayward that he is and can continue to be a superstar in Utah.
 
No reason to merge two threads with different topics.
 
Siro said:
No reason to merge two threads with different topics.
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Yeah. There was some confusion. I was trying to get my other Hayward thread merged with this one and the Hood one was merged instead.
 
NAOS said:
what was up with you "dislike" spree today, homie?
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Under Community-->Thanks/Like stats. Shows top likers, dislikers, and thankers.
 
I started a new thread about Hood and I'm working on getting the other thread merged into this one.

You guys should really read it when it gets merged. It's an awesome piece on Hayward.
 
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