SmartWentCrazy wrote:DarkAzcura wrote:SmartWentCrazy wrote:
Baynes. There was no reason to shift off from our lineup from last year.
Everyone keeps talking about Brown and Tatum potentially being be ones held back by Hayward receiving minutes. I 100% doubt Tatum or Brown care whatsoever that Hayward started over Baynes. I doubt anyone cared, and I’m sure it was cool with Baynes. The only one who had any right to be annoyed with Hayward’s return was Morris, and honestly, who cares about Morris.
Brown got yanked early on because he played selfishly. If Hayward went out there and played wrecklessly and selfishly, he would had been yanked too. This thing about Brown having a shorter leash vs Hayward is weird to me. If anything, if I were Brown, I would be annoyed that I had a shorter leash than Tatum, who also plays selfishly quite a lot and is rarely pulled for it despite being younger.
If the young guys were really thrown off by Hayward, they need to grow up. Hayward was a great teammate all year long. Barely anyone in his position would had accepted the bench role as well as he did.
As much as I appreciate Morris’ heart in the most recent series, if Hayward and Stevens were being treated unfairly because the kids couldn’t get out of their own head, Ainge should had traded Morris. That would had solved almost all of this crying about roles and minutes on its own without improperly scapegoating Hayward.
The more I think about it, the root cause of this season does unfortunately fall back on Ainge, and I’m a huge Ainge fan. He has always dismissed chemistry as an important factor of a team’s success (see Perk trade), but the league is changing. Chemistry matters now even if it didn’t in the 80s and 90s. He needs to keep up.
Your missing the externalities and pecking order of it all. Brown lost both minutes and shot attempts to begin the season because Hayward played over Baynes. Tatum was consistently benched for long two’s, but Hayward was rarely punished for playing passive and passing up shots.
Its easy to say young players just need to deal. The harder answer to accept is that Stevens treated Hayward like a dad treated his kid in little league. Hayward is a good person, but he wasnt ready for the role he was given to begin the year after his second surgery 11 months ago.
FWIW, I agree about your critique on Ainge. He knows of the ‘too many players’ theory because Morey believes in it and those two have a similar mindset. When Morris asked to be dealt last summer [per reload], Ainge shouldve acquiesced. He probably shouldve dealt Rozier too, though I get why he didnt. Having too many people that are focused on their future earnings as opposed to winning in the present is a very bad thing, IMO— we fell victim to this last season.
Hayward is passing up shots and also taking shots away from Brown. Which is it?
Minutes / FGAs / Usage % last season:
◾Tatum - 30.5 / 10.4 / 19.1%
◾Brown - 30.7 / 11.5 / 20.6%
◾Hayward - 0 / 0 / 0
Minutes / FGAs / Usage % to start this season:
◾Tatum - 32.3 / 13.1 / 21.8%
◾Brown - 29.1 / 11.6 / 20.3%
◾Hayward - 26.7 / 9.2 / 17.8%
True Shooting % of Brown in the 1st 16 games was an abysmal 43.7%. Hayward was at 50.1% (also bad). Brown lost a minute per game. Big deal. His shot attempts and usage were almost identical from last season regardless of Hayward being in the starting lineup. Are you arguing that if Baynes started in place of Hayward, Brown would've played better with more shot attempts?
Credit to him, Jaylen raised his efficiency once his minutes and shot attempts went down as part of the second unit. His shot selection and decision making improved plus he found his stroke from three. Most of the time while playing alongside Hayward off the bench. Brown's TS% 17th game onwards - 57.7%. Hayward's TS% 17th game onwards - 59.5%.
Even when Hayward was struggling with his shot early in the season, he was contributing in other ways with his playmaking and rebounding. Most of the year, he was still making the right reads. Brown's tunnel vision, lack of ballhandling skills, and low BBIQ prevented him from doing so. Jaylen's role as an off-the-catch scorer fit him well. If anyone should have a grudge, it should be Hayward who played second fiddle to Terry Rozier (lol) in the second unit (presumably to appease TRo). We never heard a peep from Gordon.
From February 1 onwards, Hayward was leading the team in true shooting % (65.7%), net rating, and defensive rating (2nd in offensive rating). Towards the end of the year and in the Indiana series, the closing lineup of Irving/Brown/Tatum/Hayward/Horford was killing it like we envisioned last preseason.
TLDR: So I just don't buy that Brown's overall play was affected by Hayward's return. He sucked on his own to begin the season and worked his tail off while accepting and blossoming in his new role since Thanksgiving. I do believe overall, there were too many mouths to feed and that Danny should've traded one or two guys (Rozier &/or Morris) and replaced them with ball-moving role-players.
And this is no critique towards you, but rather Terry.
