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What does Hayward have to do his rookie season to be considered at least a decent pick?

I think ultimately Hayward will end up be similar to a small forward version of Jeff Hornacek. A guy plays smart, hard, shoots well, and is much more effective than you would think he should be just by looking at him. .

Sigh. After all these years, the Jazz front-office are still looking for the next Next Jeff Hornacek in the post-S&M era.

Blind to the present era of long, athletic SFs like Melo and Durant and that Lebron guy. They confuse Boozer with Malone in an era of 7-foot PFs. And Deron isn't exactly the player Stockton was but that's OK -- he retained a lot of the passing and court vision but he's a crossover-'til-you-fall, dunk-in-your-face bad-*** and our most successful pick since S&M.

For the most part, including recently, a conservative organization lost in the past.
 
Wait, I want to change my answer. He needs to purchase round-trip airfare for me to SLC and get me kick-*** tix to two games. If he does that, he'll have a successful rookie campaign in my book.
 
If he grows 4 inches and gains about 50 pounds, then I will consider him a decent pick. He can actually contribute to our weakest position instead of riding the pine behind on of our strongest positions.
 
No way Matthews plays 34 minutes a game.

28 at most.
Wesley averaged 25 in the regular season (and that includes all the games when we had "too many" wings). He averaged 37 mins/game in the playoffs.

Doesn't change the original assumption even if you nitpick and say 28.
So, CJ plays 6 more mins at SG. AK or Hayward averages a few more mins at SF or Kosta gets a few minutes at PF. Maybe we have a 2-PG lineup with Price and Deron for a few minutes. Remember, these are averages. There might be games AK, Matthews or Millsap play 38. There will be other times that scrubs get extended minutes in garbage time.

Point is, you don't pay $4-$5M to a guy to come in and fight for 10-15 mins/per game. Maybe you could justify that for 1 year...you play Hayward sparingly and let him develop. But Korver isn't going to sign a 1-yr deal. And the other - and most important part - that comes into play is the luxury tax. You can sign 3 roster fillers for the price of a Korver. So effectively, any deal you give Kyle costs you 2x the contract amount because it puts you further over the luxury tax threshold.
 
I think he might be better at putting it on the floor than Matthews and I'm taking a wait and see approach with his shooting. I watched Butler play 3-4 games, all in the tournament. I have no idea if his 29% was from simply missing shots or if he rarely got open looks because he was the focus of the defense. I liked what I saw of him in the tournament and think that he can play, but I just think that Henry or Patterson would have been better picks. He's here now, so let's see what the guy can do. To be considered a decent pick, he simply needs to be part of the rotation by the end of the year. If he's anchored to the bench and looks lost when he plays, ala KouFes, then he's a bust. I'm not putting numbers as a qualifier, just earning Sloan's confidence. That's all he has to do. This season.

Wait and see. Patience. What a weird concept.
 
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