In Defense of Hayward

[babyjax13]

First off let me say that this is certainly not the pick that I was hoping for. I wanted the Jazz to either go for a scoring swing-man (George/Henry/Anderson) or a good low-post presence (Monroe, Davis, Sanders, Aldrich). Hayward could possibly be a good scorer but I see him being as more of a complimentary role player that can hit open shots and make a good extra pass. If you are looking for a similar player in the NBA Mike Dunleavy Jr might be your man. Dunleavy, when he is on the court, has been a decent player but never lived up to his status of being the third pick.

I think that Hayward is going to be a much better defender that Dunleavy ever was which will help keep him on the court more - but he will never be as good as a guy like Wes Mathews or even CJ Miles for that matter.

Hayward didn't shoot very well in his sophomore season for Butler, but he shot 44% in his Freshman season from 3. Part of the reason that his percentages dropped was because he suddenly became the focus of every defense he faced and was forced to take more shots at the end of the shot clock.

One of the advantages of this defensive attention was that Hayward was forced to take the ball into the lane. As the season wore on his ability to get into the heart of the defense grew and he was able to score effectively and create for teammates. One of the big questions of this ability translating into the NBA is if he has the foot-speed necessary to get past defenders. Surprisingly Hayward did really well in the agility test sprinting the entire court in 3.22 seconds (faster than Stanley Robinson, and Evan Turner). This put him into the upper quarter of all prospects in this year's draft.

Unfortunately he also was in the bottom quarter of all prospects in the agility test. This indicates that either his lateral quickness is very poor (which means he would be a bad defender) or that he doesn't drop all the way down into his defensive stance (which is very correctable). I can tell you from watching him in the NCAA tournament that the latter is the case. He is very bad about standing on defense, so even though he puts forth great effort opposing players can get around him relatively easily. I think that a season under Jerry Sloan will be enough to correct this and he will be a decent defender. He also has a no-step vertical of 31 inches, which is incredible (and this puts his no-step reach at 11 feet 3 inches) and a max vertical of 35 inches. That number alone suggests that he is not a bad athlete and will be a decent defender.

Offensively he will be a nice complimentary piece to Boozer and Williams to spread the floor and take some ball handling duties when Deron is double-teamed. He was a point guard in high school and has proven to have great court vision. Well, I guess the point guard thing isn't really relevant, almost every good player was a point guard in high school - but he was the main ball-handler for Butler and would be a nice option to have on offense. If you watch Hayward's shooting form, it is fantastic. His three point percentage dropped drastically from his freshman to sophomore hear (from 44% to 29%), but as I have said, a lot of that is due to the way defenses treated him. Hopefully on offense Deron will be able to do the same thing for Gordon Hayward that he did for Mehmet Okur and turn him into a great offensive option just due to how open he can get. And, with Hayward's speed he will be great coming off of screens (like Korver and Harpring) and hitting the patented curl shot and elbow three (again, see Memo and Korver).

Finally there is the loyalty factor. Hayward seems like a very down to earth kid (he is only 20) that would love to stay on the team that he is drafted by. He has expressed interest in playing for the Jazz and benefiting from their system - and I think that part of Utah's decision was whether or not the player they drafted would still be here 8 to 10 years down the line.

Hopefully this sets some of you at ease and helps you to know what your expectations should be for Hayward. I honestly was hoping for a more aggressive pick with better upside - but I think that ultimately Hayward will be a career player for the Jazz that helps our team significantly.

[Jazzfan12]

I like Hayward's ball handling a lot, but I just don't see him having the quickness to create his own shot.

[Matt007b]

good post.

I think it's important for those complaining about the 3 point percentage...like you said he shot 44% so he can shoot it. I still like the pick..I TOTALLY understand why some of you are going ape crazy but this kid is not a bad player.

[The Sheik]

He has point forward potential. I was initially outraged, but again lets see what he does...before I call for KOC's head.

[Nate505]

I want to see him play before I judge him, and some of the responses I've seen are downright comical. That being said, if he won't be as good a player as Miles or Wes, then I'm not convinced he was worth the 9 pick in the draft. I'd like to see him be better than those two.

[countrybama24]

I just don't like dropping lottery picks on a potential mike dunleavy. Lacking lateral quickness and a quick first step, this dude is just gonna be another sub par defender on a team that already scores plenty. He'll be solid. Dwill will make him better. But he adds less than 5 wins to the Jazz this season or the next, imo.

[The Sheik]

My problem with this pick is what Nate505 and others have stated. At their highest potentials Hayward would be ranked behind both CJ and Wes, IMO. He will have to work his ass off to be anywhere close to the shooter Korver is.

Secondly, Are Fes and Kosta better than Aldrich, Davis?

[BarneyGumble]

Lets mold Hayward into our backup PG and ship Miles, Price, and Okur to LA Clippers for Kaman.

[HolyToledo]

He reminds me of John Stockton. When stock was picked, he was from a small school whom looked good at workouts then had a great career at Utah after being a surprise pick. Hayward has Larry Bird type skills BUT seems to lack the desire to dominate the game. The Kid needs to want to be great not just a good player. I give KOC credit for once based upon the draft board, Hayward was a risk pick that may work out really well. He is a great Tennis player like John Lucus was so this Kid has quickness and great hand eye cordination. I would have preferred to trade down and draft Anderson plus Whiteside whom both dropped down the draft boards BUT....

This draft pick either gets KOC fired or GM of the year!! For some reason, I think it is going to work out for the Jazz and KOC. This maybe our new star and it maybe DWILL-Hayward instead of Stockton-Malone we could be talkin about for many years.

[Neon Black]

Everyone forgot to mention what a great rebounder he is. Dude averaged over 8 rpg and had several double-doubles in big games.

I think we should give him a chance before making such harsh, final judgments.

I think calling him the next franchise player is a little much, but he could really add something. I'm personally glad we didn't take Whiteside or Udoh.

[Racer X]

All I am saying is we dont keep losing to the Lakers because of our small forward/wing positions. They have too much length for us, and they out-rebound us. Thats the bottom line. We did not and never do address that.

This pick was a stab in my heart. Ed Davis . . . we never knew ye . . .

[blackham9258]

Rebounding? He was the tallest player on a mid con team. There was no one else to rebound. Are you kidding me. He was also rebounding against other high challenged and athletically challenged players in a mid continent conference.

His rebounding will be worse in the pros.

[The Sheik]

This is not justification, Im just trying to make people feel better. Here are basic numbers on the wing prospects.
no step max vert bench lane agility 3/4 court sprint
Hayward 30.5 34.5 10 11.73 3.22

I first glance he has an impressive no step vertical, so so agility and a good sprint. IF Hayward just had a wing span I would like him much more. Hayward had the second best no step vert of the "big 6" (Henry, Johnson, Turner, Henry, Babbitt, George did not work out) behind only Wes Johnson. All the wings were within 1-3 inches in max vert. He did more reps than Turner and Aminu. However, he had the worst Lane Agility of the six. He was nearly .30 behind the next closet guy. 3/4 sprint doesnt mean much IMO. Just a hustle drill.

He is a decent athlete, we will find out come October and during summer league. He is one of those players that does a lot of things good, but nothing great. He has the ability to be a plus passer and shooter, and that 30.5 no step gives him the ability to be a good rebounder. He will likely never be a great defender, but hopefully he does not get exposed badly.

I'm still not happy with this pick, but again we will see what happens. He is systematically a good fit and I guess given what happened to Dallas it makes more sense to build within our system, rather than try and build a team to beat someone.

Best Case Scenario - He becomes a sixth man, starter or spot starter
Worst Case Scenario - Adam Morrison

P.S. If this pick pans out KOC wont win "GM of the year." hahaha

[The Sheik]

I thought this was a well done review on Hayward's game.

http://clipperblog.com/2010/06/01/prosp ... n-hayward/

[Getjazz]

You can say WHATEVER you want to try to make yourself feel better about this F*** PICK!!!!! The fact is that this guy is not even close to what we need!!!! Any big left on the board all the way down to the 2nd round would be a better pick for our TEAM NEEDS!!!! This guy wont even battle for the starting job at 2 or3. Why not get a big that has a chance? This team is a joke and MARK MY WORDS, D WILL IS GONE!!!! He will not resign with a team that takes no chances and is fine being who they are. A first or second round team.

I'm still so PISSED OFF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Neon Black]

In the NCAA tournament he pulled down 8 rebounds vs. Duke, 9 vs. Michigan, 9 vs. Kansas st, etc....he didn't only do it in the "Horizon League", where no, he was not the tallest player. Obviously he won't rebound as well in the NBA but he couldn't possibly be worse than Miles or Korver.

You can't just disregard everything he did because of the league he played in. He was the best player on the second best team in the nation. I don't know if any of his skills will translate, and if they do I don't know to what extent. He could be Adam Morrison. He could also be as good as Hornacek. I don't know and neither does anyone on this board.

Davis and Aldrich could have been great picks, but honestly just as many people would be bitching about the "unathletic, white, safe system player" in Aldrich and both players are also big question marks...and NEITHER will put us over the hump vs. LA. There was not ONE player on the draft board after Cousins that are remotely likely to do that, so stop acting like that's the determining factor when measuring the pick's futility.

[HammerDunk]

I suppose this is an indication that the Jazz are wanting to further develop Fes and KK, or they have a plan for getting another 5 in here and hope to keep Booz.

This COULD work out in that he needs less time to develop and fit into our system than Aldrich or Patterson or whatever and provides the intangibles that do well on our team. I'll have to trust KOC on that one, as I would much rather have had a big or a talented 2 like Henry, but this could work out well.

Here's to hoping.

[jazzfan1971]

Well, I've calmed down a bit.

I wanted Ed Davis. Got this guy instead. Didn't even have him on my draft board, so I honestly didn't konw who he was. Spent a good part of the evening learning a bit more about him.

I'm gonna give him a chance. Give teh Jazz FO a chance. Give the rest of teh offseason a chance.

So, here's to moving forward with an open mind.

[Soul Patch]

Unless this bastard fixes our interior defense **** him. Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum are high fiving each other with their cocks because of this pick.

[Reckless]

I had mixed feeling when we took him. For one this isn't a strong draft, after top 5 it's tough to say who I wanted the jazz to take. I would have liked the jazz to take a big, but they decided that Hayward was the best player available... and they may be right, it's too early to judge that. According to Draft Express he shot 59% on 2 pt attempts it was his poor 3 pt shooting that brought his percentages down, but his freshman he did shoot the 3 ball well though. He played pretty well against the likes of Kansas St., Syracuse, and Michigan St. Kind of made a name for himself on the biggest stage, I like that about him, he's already familiar playing some big games in the ESA.

Now if Cole Aldrich plays a big defensive role for OKC we'll have to re think it but let's give this Hayward kid a chance first.