I don't post on here much so there no way you could have known my thoughts but I was absolutely against signing Hayward to some crazy deal. He is a good player but let's be honest, is he really the 3rd best player in the league? According to this http://hoopshype.com/salaries/players/ he is the 3rd highest paid player. Imagine what the Jazz future would look like if Hill had taken the $80M extension and Hayward would have stayed. We would have our hands tied for the next couple of years financially for a team that I wouldn't expect to do any better than this year's team did. I think we are in a much better situation with how things played out. To summarize, imo Hayward would have been great to keep at the right price. No sour grapes from me, in fact I plan on taking Danny Ainge out for a drink if he ever comes to watch his kid play at USU.
Gordon on moving to Celtics
- Thread starter royzzz
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I don't post on here much so there no way you could have known my thoughts but I was absolutely against signing Hayward to some crazy deal. He is a good player but let's be honest, is he really the 3rd best player in the league? According to this http://hoopshype.com/salaries/players/ he is the 3rd highest paid player. Imagine what the Jazz future would look like if Hill had taken the $80M extension and Hayward would have stayed. We would have our hands tied for the next couple of years financially for a team that I wouldn't expect to do any better than this year's team did. I think we are in a much better situation with how things played out. To summarize, imo Hayward would have been great to keep at the right price. No sour grapes from me, in fact I plan on taking Danny Ainge out for a drink if he ever comes to watch his kid play at USU.
Maybe, make an argument for me.
What did he do for the Jazz in the post season? To me a played a small role and was meh for his career.
He was really good for a 22 year old with tons of potential. But then got worse every year and was terrible in his prime years. I guess I would have liked him if we didn't see this potential early and we paid him what he was worth which was about the mle.
Most people argue he was good based on potential but that argument could be made for most NBA players.
Most AK fans blame Sloan, a hof coach, for how bad AK was.
Dude just couldn't hack it in the NBA. Whenever games actually mattered in the playoffs he shrunk.
fishonjazz
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I remember AK at his peak and people wanting the jazz to give AK all teh monies. Me included. I thought he was going to be a top 3 player in the league type of player. At his peak, dude was phenomenal. Short lived for sure but that mother ****er was incredibly special at his peak.
The problem with AK is that he was played out of position. Pre-Boozer/when Boozer was injured, he played PF and his length/athleticism around the bucket was truly special. Once he got pushed to the wing and had to play on the perimeter, his impact fell off drastically.
Big, big Jerry Sloan fan but I always thought that was a big blunder.
Big, big Jerry Sloan fan but I always thought that was a big blunder.
People thinking we won't miss Hayward are delusional IMO... Yeah, he wasn't a superstar but he was the closest we've had to it since Deron.
We know how much he will miss him on offense... I wonder if we wouldn't miss him defensively too:
https://public.tableau.com/shared/46C7GPS7T?:display_count=yes&:showVizHome=no
He was one of only 7 players in the league being positive defending against every single play type.
We know how much he will miss him on offense... I wonder if we wouldn't miss him defensively too:
https://public.tableau.com/shared/46C7GPS7T?:display_count=yes&:showVizHome=no
He was one of only 7 players in the league being positive defending against every single play type.
I think DL has mitigated how much the team will miss Hayward on the defensive end when he signed a superior defender at the 3, Sefolosha.
Offensively is another matter entirely. Short of Exum and Hood taking big steps forward on that end it will be a problem. Favors could also offset this some if he returns to form.
mellow
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I agree. AK at the pf was special, for the Jazz it was a move by necessity, but it was truly a move ahead of its time. Imagine prime Deron, Korver, Harpring, AK and Memo running out in today's spread and shoot NBA. The defense might be meh, but the offense could be fun. But Jerry and KOC were old school and Boozer fit the old model better than AK.
JimLes
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Which is my point. Not that AK was amazing in the playoffs or that he had an amazing career or that Hayward will not most likely end up with more career accomplishments. It's that by any metric, for about 2 years, AK meant more to the Jazz and impacted the game so much more than Hayward did during any of his time here. I posted the advanced stats for 03/04. AK was affecting the game at MVP-candidate levels.
I agree, it is funny how Hayward all of a sudden sucks. I wanted to re-sign him because he was an All-star and is very talented him. However, when people break up they always seem to discount the other persons looks or ability to make themselves feel better.
After finding out he didn't want to be in Utah, I won't miss him. I thought he mishandled the situation and comes across as being selfish. I understand he had the right to leave it is the way he left that irks me. I won't root for him and I highly doubt he wins a championship as the star of the team.
I was one of the few that didn't want to max AK. I think he has special skills but his offense didn't warrant it. Unfortunately, when he got his money AK believed he should be keys to the car when he wasn't the best driver.
fishonjazz
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Agreed
JimLes
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Or maybe when people break up and take off the rose-coloured glasses, they can actually see things clearly.