Meet
Hayward—-4 things he needs to work on
Posted by: John Jacobs on November 4th, 2012
The author's views are entirely his or her own and may not reflect the views of the Utah Jazz.Replies: 2
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Noone is a bigger fan of Hayward than I. You see his mantra “#improveeveryday” on twitter
account occasionally.
OK here are 4 things in my humble opinion you need to work on/incorporate into your game.
1) Don’t try to take people off the dribble with you facing your defender all of the time.
You can still do this but you need to start doing what Magic Johnson (and a lot of other very
successful NBA players have done) and that is when near or just inside the arc do not face the
defender but rather put your rear end first and back down the defender. Having your body between
you and the defender will create a buffer for you. In other words by doing this distance will created
between the your defender and the ball. I think this will help you because although he you are a good
dribbler for someone 6′8″ tall you still are not great. This will be just another tactic you can use to
be a more proficient dribbler. I don’t think you do this because although I do think you a true
competitor you are not into aspects of the game that involve heavy contact. Backing done someone
though does create contact but not a lot relatively speaking.
2) In the half court set when you flash through the lane and hold up you arms requesting an entry pass
you can’t do it for a microsecond. You need to hold that position a little longer and you need to be much
more assertive in demanding the ball from your teammate. You in the lane one on one against your defender
would add another element to your game. You would be closer to the basket be defended typically by someone
shorter.
3) develop a floater
4) post up your defender up off the block occasionally (when big al isn’t there).
The four aforementioned suggestions all have to do with maximizing Hayward’s capabilities in space.
Experiment a little! This is the only way you will be able to truly #improveeveryday as you say on Twitter.
P.S. I do agree with a Harpring comment he made in the Spurs game. He was commenting about how
Randy Foye when he comes off a curl is thinking only one thing—-shoot it immediately. I think have
this mentality also.
I would just have to say a lot of the things he does is because the role he is given. He has not opportunities to do this. When he is in the floor Al is on the floor. They do not call play plays for him they do not pass to him that is why his hands do not stay up because he has played with Al long enough he knows there is not consistent ball movement. Has he got better yes but he does not see passing lanes and rarely passes to a cutter. Hopefully he can get better. Floaters are not particularly seen by a 6′8 dude for a reason. They are big and when they come down the lane and do a floater it is much easier to take a charge. Plus a jump shot when your 6′8 is not easy to stop. So if you come down the lane and stop on the FT line for a jumper then boom that is just as good as a small PG floater cause you are not getting an offensive foul