1) AK's contract was for $26M MORE and a longer commitment.
2) AK was injury prone which limited his effectiveness. Even when we extended him his back had troubled him.
3) At the time, most experts believed AK was better than Gasol, who got a max contact at the time. It put the Jazz in a tough situation.
4) AK was a weirdo muppet looking russian who would rather read in the locker room instead of working on his game.
5) AK had Sloan to make him look GOOD. The 2004 team concept would have made Hayward look even better. Hayward had Corbin to make him look BAD.
6) The Jazz were ultimately hurt by the prohibitive length of the contract. Hayward's deal would be 3-4 years. The Jazz can look that far ahead and determine that it won't cause the same luxury tax pains that paying AK caused for 2009/10 and 2010/11.
7) THE SALARY CAP WHEN AK EXTENDED WAS $43M. It is at $63M now and projected to go up, and Hayward is getting paid less. It does not have the same impact on the team.
But besides that, you are right. Same animal. SMDH.
1)***** Ak’s contract was only 2 years longer. No way Hayward is traded after his third year. His contract was $86/6 years, or 14.3M per year. Hayward’s is $63/4, which is $15.75M per year. Gordon is getting paid more per year than AK was. I want to add that it was only in AK’s 2nd year of the max contract that we made the WCF, so that goes to show how fast a team can change after big signings. AK’s max signing affected the team going forward from that point, with 5 seasons that the Jazz could’ve used that salary cap space for other needs.
2)***** Silly argument. Every player has issues in the NBA. AK’s first 3 seasons he played 82, 80, and 78 games. After he signed the max, he played 69,70,72,67,58, and 64 games. Gordon on the other hand has played 72, 66, and 72 games in his first 3 seasons respectively. Who’s to say he won’t get hurt? Again, lame argument
3)***** And at our time, experts believe Gordon is nowhere NEAR the level of any other max player in the league.*
4)***** And the guy who’d rather play league of legends and starcraft (Platinum league – that takes a very long time reaching that) than work on his game is better?
5)***** Then why did AK look worse after D Will, Boozer, and Company arrive? He was taught by sloan. The system didn’t change. He just NATURALLY became the 4th option and 5th option.* Corbin tried to run the same system as Sloan.
6)***** Again, false. As I stated before, it was the 2nd year of his MAX contract that we went to the WCF. His 3rd and 4th year were prime years for the jazz to contend had we spent money on other players.
7)***** That’s a valid point that it doesn’t have the same impact on the team, however, the salary cap was $43M and then it jumped up $7M the next year to $50M.* The salary cap this last year was $59M and will rise $63M. The salary cap is always changing, but that doesn’t make signing right if the player is getting overpaid.***
https://basketball.realgm.com/nba/info/salary_cap
8)***** The year before AK signed the max, he was averaging 16ppg, 3 blocks, 3 assists, 6 rebounds, and shooting 49% from the field, which is better than what Hayward had his year before he got the max. Both are overrated versatile point forwards who had good stats during their contract years on crappy lottery teams.
