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What do you expect from Gordon Hayward?

D

Dash

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Preseason statistics: 8.1 points per game (35% and 11% from three), 2.8 rebounds, 1.6 assists, 1 steal and 1.5 turnovers in 23 minutes of action.

Besides an impressive 26 point game performance against the Lakers, Gordon has struggled through the entire preseason. His shot doesn't seem to be sinking in anywhere from the field, losing the ball and getting into foul trouble, but the impressive thing about him is that he's quietly getting it done in other stat fields. He's rebounding well for the minutes he's played and he's picking his man's pocket. He's also getting to the line at an impressive rate, shooting 29 free throws in 8 preseason games.

Anyways where do you see Gordon in Utah's rotation? Will begin to get his stroke back as the season begins and later crack into rotation and possibly starting lineup? Or will be buried at the end of Sloan's bench?
 
The kid is going to play. Prob about 15 or so minutes a game to start. If his confidence comes back on his shot he might get a few more min. But between 15 to 20 a minutes a game this year if we don't have any injuries. If he shot continues to struggle then after the first month or so of that we well only see him in garbage minutes.
 
I see Hayward playing between 10 and 20 minutes a night depending on how he is doing. I think he will play in most, if not all games unless he ends up in Coach's doghouse somehow (which I highly doubt will happen).

On a different note, I think that as the season goes on we need to realize that Gordon was drafted into a good situation, something that cannot be said about any other top-10 pick. Most of these guys are going to be forced into being a top-3 guy on their team, where Gordon will probably be our 8th or 9th man this year. Because of this, he won't have the stats (or minutes) of these other guys. This is just something he will need to deal with, and we as fans will need to understand.

I wouldn't be surprised to see his line at the end of the year as something like:

78 games played; 16 MPG
8.0 PPG on 43%, 35% from 3
3 RPG, 3 APG, 1 TO, 0.8 BLK
 
If Hayward averages 43%, 35% from 3, 3 RPG, 3 APG, 1 TO, 0.8 BLK he will get a lot more than just 16 minutes a game. He wont sniff 35% from 3 or 43% from the field. Remember he shot 29% from college 3 last year. It is my hope that Hayward gets less than 5 minutes a game because he will be taking time away from AK, CJ and/or Bell. However, if he does shot this well, you got to play the rookie.
 
twentytwo said:
I wouldn't be surprised to see his line at the end of the year as something like:

78 games played; 16 MPG
8.0 PPG on 43%, 35% from 3
3 RPG, 3 APG, 1 TO, 0.8 BLK
Click to expand...

I hope that 78 games played means there are DNPs and not on injured list or D-league assignment :)

Me thinks GH starts at 7 - 8 mins and increases it to 10 -12 by the end of the year. And not because of injuries to teammates but due to him adapting to the Jazz and the NBA.
 
larry-bird-action11.jpg
 
I'm expecting 10-15 mins/game initially, tending more towards the 10 than the 15. Later in the season, if he's been doing okay, I expect he'll get more minutes (15-20) in place of Bell against teams that are tanking, maybe more if he's playing well and the margin is great, in order to keep Bell a bit fresher for the Playoffs. A lot depends on how he plays in the early games, if he takes good shots in the flow of the offence and plays a semblance of D - which he seemed to do against the Kings, the only game I've seen - then he'll keep getting minutes, otherwise he'll be banished to the end of the bench quick-smart.
 
twentytwo said:
78 games played; 16 MPG
8.0 PPG on 43%, 35% from 3
3 RPG, 3 APG, 1 TO, 0.8 BLK
Click to expand...

I'd be shocked by this. Like was said before, that kind of production in only 16mins and the kid doesn't get more burn?

I'll go with:

12-15MPG
5.5 ppg on 39%, 25% from 3
1.5 RPG, 1.5 AST, 1 STL
 
And just for future comparison, Hornacek's rookie stats:

86-87 Suns
GP 80
GS 3
MIN 19.5
FG .454
3% .279 (ouch)
FT% .777
RPG 2.3
APG 4.5
SPG .88
BPG .06
TOPG 1.91
PPG 5.3

I don't think something similar to these is out of the question.
 
Assuming CJ, Raja and AK are healthy, I expect about 12-15 minutes off the bench to start the season. Probably will finish the season with a 4-6 ppg average but that will be skewed because he'll have games in January where he'll play 2 minutes of garbage time at the most. Jerry likes to let rookies get their feet wet, find something they need to work on and then tell them they won't play until they improve at it (just guessing for Hayward it might be his off-the-ball defense) and then see if they're willing to keep working and fighting through the lack of playing time. If Hayward is (which I suspect he will be), then he'll get back into the rotation and give us good minutes off the bench down the stretch.

Also, he did shoot 97% from the line in the preseason so if he can figure out how to defend he may find himself on the floor at the end of some tight games by the end of the season.
 
I expect him to be invited to the Rookie team.

Not sure he'll do that, but that's what I expect from him.
 
Can't remember exactly but didn't Deron look bad his first 30-40 games of rookie season?
Didn't a lot think Jazz had made wrong choice and should have taken Paul?
If so fans should give Hayward some time to prove himself if he looks bad for a while.
 
I hope Hayward has a LeBron-like jump from preseason to season in him:

LeBron's rookie year

Preseason stats: 32mpg, 12ppg, 5 rpg, 5 apg, 34% FG, 64% FT, 12.5% 3P, 3.9TO
Season stats: 40mpg, 21ppg, 6 rpg, 6 apg, 42% FG, 75% FT, 29%, 3P, 3.4TO
 
I expect him to make a positive impact on the floor if he wants playing time early this season. He has a nice array of tools for us. He will be an elite passer at somepoint in his career. He can board, hit that curl shot, and seems to be a ball hawk. I hope he focusings on doing the little things for us, and let his offense come slowly.

I was more impressed with his pre-season overall. Maybe I had low expectations, but I didn't expect the 20 year old kid to give us much of anything yet.
 
i expect him to be on the benc h all year so hopefully he is a good cheerleader.15 mins a game? Thats wishful thinking by some. I and all of you know that once season starts sloan have him on bench where he belongs
 
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