RealGM

People talk about Jimmy Butler and Paul George, but there's little chatter about a guy who's just as good as both of them.

Gordon Hayward is freshly 27. He doesn't get hurt. He even plays more games a year than ironman Butler.

Hayward also has become a great defender. His defense win shares is top 10 in the entire league. His fg% differential has been better than Butler's (George has fallen a bit in most defensive stats).

He's a dynamic scorer. His three-pointer is close to elite. He keeps his turnovers low. He gets to the line. This guy has no real weakness on offense.

Actually he has no weakness at all. He's one of the top 2-way players in the league, just coming into his prime.

What I love about him is his personality. For a star, he's remarkably a team-first guy. Hard worker, great attitude, killer on the court. Too many prima donnas in this league, and that kills any chance of a championship, which is built on sacrifice and teamwork.

It's incredibly rare that a player of his caliber is available on the market.

We should go at him, hard. And he'll help legitimize the Lakers as a viable destination, in becoming a championship contender. Might even be more attractive for Paul George to join in 2018, too.

By the way, Gordon Hayward worked out with Kobe last summer, spent a week with him in Newport. Called it one of his best weeks ever.

He said there's "still a big leap for me" and wanted to get "uncomfortable" to do it. I love this guy.

He will not sign with us, we are a pretty bad team.

Believe me Miles I would love Gordon but Utah is in a pretty good spot and I actually see him resigning with them. The reasons you're a fan of his personality are the exact reasons why I think he'll stay with a team like Utah.

Getting these B+ players get us nowhere but purgatory with no way to compete and no way to acquire talent through the draft. There's nothing wrong with rebuilding completely and waiting out the GSW run. Not to mention Utah is in an upswing right now. Their team has vastly improved, so there's no reason they'll trade him and no reason either why Hayward would leave at this point.

I'm not against rebuilding slowly however under this CBA I think it's not really possible to rebuild through just the draft anymore. We will have to start handing out big contracts every summer for 4 straight years to keep our core. Randle, Zubac and Nance all are coming due next summer I believe. Russell after that then Ingram. In 4 years we will be capped right there and then some IF they all fulfill the expectations. I'm not seeing this group just growing into a championship team. Durant, Westbrook, Harden and Ibake couldn't do it and our core is no where near that good.

I think you need to craft a team rather than draft one. When you rely just on the draft you get what's there when you pick. Why would anyone think that luck of the draw provides the right mix of players, talents and leadership to build a top team?

A second consideration is that Jeanie and Magic didn't shake things up to wait our this group's "improvement". So far we're 5 games better and that's with Lou Williams who's gone. I'm not sure this group makes a 10-15 game improvement next year. I think they will be making some changes to try and jump start this a bit.

milesfides wrote:People talk about Jimmy Butler and Paul George, but there's little chatter about a guy who's just as good as both of them.

Gordon Hayward is freshly 27. He doesn't get hurt. He even plays more games a year than ironman Butler.

Hayward also has become a great defender. His defense win shares is top 10 in the entire league. His fg% differential has been better than Butler's (George has fallen a bit in most defensive stats).

He's a dynamic scorer. His three-pointer is close to elite. He keeps his turnovers low. He gets to the line. This guy has no real weakness on offense.

Actually he has no weakness at all. He's one of the top 2-way players in the league, just coming into his prime.

What I love about him is his personality. For a star, he's remarkably a team-first guy. Hard worker, great attitude, killer on the court. Too many prima donnas in this league, and that kills any chance of a championship, which is built on sacrifice and teamwork.

It's incredibly rare that a player of his caliber is available on the market.

We should go at him, hard. And he'll help legitimize the Lakers as a viable destination, in becoming a championship contender. Might even be more attractive for Paul George to join in 2018, too.

By the way, Gordon Hayward worked out with Kobe last summer, spent a week with him in Newport. Called it one of his best weeks ever.

He said there's "still a big leap for me" and wanted to get "uncomfortable" to do it. I love this guy.

I love the suggestion and yes the Lakers should go hard after him. For all those guys that think Utah is the place for him, he almost signed with Charlotte as Utah wanted to play cheap with him (not giving him $13 per) which pissed him off a bit but they ended up matching the offer in the end in 2014. Hayward wanted 13 but they held firm at 12 and ended up matching and paying 16, LOL... Now Hayward could be a FA with a players option which he will surely exercise. I hope he opts out and we throw the max at him and see what happens. Utah would match but hope Magic can wheel Hayward in.

But talks broke down last year, with Hayward reportedly seeking a four-year contract valued at $13 million annually and Utah reportedly holding firm at $12 million annually.

Landsberger wrote:I'm not against rebuilding slowly however under this CBA I think it's not really possible to rebuild through just the draft anymore.

This new CBA has made it so, that's the only way to rebuild. You might have more freedom to get mid level players through trades, but good luck getting a superstar to sign with another team.

Gordon Hayward is a top 10 2-way player, with room to grow.

Lebron and Kevin Durant changed the game. Build an attractive roster and the big fish will come.

He's going to have multiple max offers including his own team Jazz and Celtics who are coached by Brad Stevens. I believe there was a report he's also going to be the Lakers and Heat top target as well.

He had an interview with Zach Lowe a few months ago making it clear he doesn't care about the fame or city he plays in, just wants to contend for a title. I don't see why he would give the lakers serious consideration.

D'angelo projects to be an all-time great, so why wouldn't Hayward or any top free agent be excited to play with him?

Also, most contenders don't have the cap space to sign him.

Boston? Just extended Jae Crowder and drafted a stud in Jaylen Brown, both of whom play Gordon's position. And of course, everybody knows that Isiah is the alpha on that team and would dominate the ball down the stretch. Gordon isn't a great fit at all with Boston. Instead, they need somebody a lot better than Amir Johnson, and they'll be legit contenders. Hayward doesn't fix that problem.

Lakers have an attractive group of young talent, especially if they land Lonzo Ball. They can also move some guys to land proven veterans. Whether it's Clarkson, Randle, Ingram, or even Russell, you can get some attractive veterans.

Let's say the Lakers did that horrible deal and landed Demarcus Cousins for Russell and Ingram. A roster with Lonzo Ball, Hayward, Cousins? Sick. And Zubac, Larry Nance, Randle, Clarkson to play with. And that's a deal that I wouldn't have done.

Magic and Rob are definitely going to make some moves. Too much pressure not to, after what happened within the organization.

Also this: "Gordon Hayward is impressed with Brandon Ingram and the Young Lakers"

https://www.google.com/amp/www.silverscreenandroll.com/platform/amp/2016/12/28/14098200/la-lakers-gordon-hayward-brandon-ingram-impressed-stats-recap


"They have a lot of talent on their team,” Hayward said of the Lakers. “A lot of guys that are capable of scoring points in bunches, and so they're very dangerous. When one of them gets going, it can be a long night for you. They're a good, young, talented team with a lot of good pieces.”

That last part is a really interesting comment from an unrestricted free agent.

Let's say the Lakers trade D'Angelo Russell for Kristaps Porzingis.

Lonzo Ball, Brandon Ingram, Gordon Hayward, Kristaps Porzingis, Zubac...with Clarkson, Nance, Randle leading the bench mob?

How is that not a good look?

We might mess around and get Paul George next summer too.

So on the one hand Hayward has no weakness and is one of the best two way players in the league, but on the other hand Boston won't want him cause he's easily replaceable by Crowder and Brown. Really?

I mean I guess you can pretend Boston won't have interest but there's several reports out there saying they will, specially with the Brad Stevens connection.

Anyone just writing them off as if they're the ones that won't be interested in Hayward isn't really looking to have a legitimate discussion.

Michael Lucky wrote:

Landsberger wrote:I'm not against rebuilding slowly however under this CBA I think it's not really possible to rebuild through just the draft anymore.

This new CBA has made it so, that's the only way to rebuild. You might have more freedom to get mid level players through trades, but good luck getting a superstar to sign with another team.

This is why I think trades will be used..... and soon. If the FO thinks this group grows to a championship team in 4 years then we will see no action.... if they don't I think we will see some with the young core along with FA attempts yet again.

In 4 years we will be capped and if one of these guys isn't a superstar then we're more screwed than we are now.

Under the new CBA Durant moved. A top player in the game... so I'd say it's not impossible. We need to get to 40 wins...then we can start to be attractive again. Getting to 40 is the problem. Not sure we have a team that can do that in the next 3 years right now.

Edit: Here's what we are looking at in re-signing this group.
Next Summer:
Randle
Nance
Black
Summer 2019:
Zubac
Russell
Summer 2020:
Ingram
Clarkson

So in 3 years we'd be giving Randle, Ingram and Russell all an average of 20M-25M a year most likely. Zubac 15 or so, Nance and Black 8-12 each. Clarkson could get a 15M deal if he's not with us. That's upwards of 115M-125M and there is no FA's in there.

I"ll be the first to admit I'm just guessing what these guys will make but if they are the future stars most think then they will be paid very big contracts because of their age. OKC had to break up their 3 youngsters because of the cap and team makeup and I'll bet we will too. Problem is that I don't think we're dealing with 3 potential HOFer's in our group.

dockingsched wrote:So on the one hand Hayward has no weakness and is one of the best two way players in the league, but on the other hand Boston won't want him cause he's easily replaceable by Crowder and Brown. Really?

No, that's what you said. That's not what I said. I just said it's not a great fit for him, and that could be from either side. I don't pretend to know what Boston's plans are. Reading comprehension.

I mean I guess you can pretend Boston won't have interest but there's several reports out there saying they will, specially with the Brad Stevens connection.

Anyone just writing them off as if they're the ones that won't be interested in Hayward isn't really looking to have a legitimate discussion.

Who's writing them off? You have profound reading issues. Boston isn't a done deal for Hayward. And this discussion isn't about Boston. It's about the Lakers, and why the Lakers should have an interest in this free agent that isn't talked about enough. Again, reading comprehension.

I never bothered with Hayward because of his connection to Indiana and Boston, let alone he is probably comfortable in Utah. At least George is an LA boy so there's a connection there.

TyCobb wrote:I never bothered with Hayward because of his connection to Indiana and Boston, let alone he is probably comfortable in Utah. At least George is an LA boy so there's a connection there.

I think the hometown connection is one of the most overrated factors. How many top players played in their hometown in their prime?

The talent on their roster, the coaching staff, the strength of the front office, and to a much lesser extent, the market have seemed to be the main factors.

The Lakers, in Gordon Hayward's own words, have an attractive roster:
'They're a good, young, talented team with a lot of good pieces.” Scouts around the league have reiterated this in reports.

The Lakers also have one of the most attractive coaches to play for in Luke Walton.

The Lakers' front office was just rehauled with Magic and Rob, our new power brokers who bring prestige and connections.

And L.A. has always been one of the top two sports markets.

This summer will show whether all those changes make a difference. I think they will, and it's almost certain a big move will come this summer. I doubt Jeannie, Magic, and Rob will wait for the pot to boil.

At this point, I'll take any star that wants to play with these kids.

I think we'll be active in the trade market though, at least from what I've gathered from Pelinka in his interviews.

Hayward would obviously be a great signing for us I'm just not sure how realistic it is.

I imagine trading for Paul George can only help.
There was also a report that Hayward worked out with Kobe in the offseason. Called it the best work of his career. Probably doesn't mean much but who knows.