Meet
Gordon Hayward
Posted by: Shane Searle on July 16th, 2010
The author's views are entirely his or her own and may not reflect the views of the Utah Jazz.Hey, i’m new to this site and this would be my first post!! I tend to not post things too often, mostly just love the jazz and reading about them, but i’ve been reading everyone’s posts and blogs the last few days and i’m just curious what everyone expects from Hayward?? I know he’s a rookie, and rookies tend to not play so much for sloan, but matthews was able to do it last year, so i don’t see any reason why hayward couldn’t be a regular rotation guy fairly quickly. I must admit that when the Jazz made the pick, i wasn’t really that excited about it (not that i know who i would have rather them picked, all the decent bigs were already gone) but being from the small school in Butler i didn’t really know too much about him. I still don’t, but everything i’ve read on the kid has been promising, and i’m getting pretty excited!! I do remember when they made the pick that the analysts on ESPN radio said that his ceiling would be that he could be a similar player to Jeff Hornacek, which would be awesome!! And i know no one likes to do the comparison thing, but i don’t mind it if only to know what type of game to expect from him, especially since he isn’t a really well known commodity. Also, this is what David Thorpe from ESPN.com had to say about his summer league experience in Orlando:
He’s not been very productive, but my guess is the Jazz brain trust is happy with what they’ve seen. Hayward is light on his feet and fluid overall. He has made some perimeter shots, is shooting with confidence and absolutely looks to be a shooting guard. That is exactly what the Jazz need to complement Wesley Matthews. He’ll be much better playing with the real team this fall and will hurt guards with his size. The best thing about him is that he’s a fighter. Smile, coach Sloan.
Obviously Matthews is about 99% for sure gone (at least I haven’t heard the official word, but it is what it is) but i think Raja Bell does pretty much what we would have asked Matthews to do, which is guard the other team’s best guy and hit some open 3’s to spread the floor. And for a heck of a lot cheaper too!! gotta love that!! Anyways, it seems everyone is plugging hayward into the 3 spot, and it sounds like maybe his future is at the 2, so maybe he could be the backup to Bell and be able to throw more size and a different look at whoever Bell is guarding to keep him guessing. Anyways, i just wanted to put in my two cents on the issue and see what everyone else has to say!!
Replies: 10
Views: 292
10 Responses
From what I’ve seen I’m not impressed. I’m not sure he has what takes to be in the NBA, unless the strong structure of Jazz can mold him into a strong player I doubt he’ll do much for the team.
I think there was a master plan this whole time. Pick Hayward. Lose Korver and Boozer. Get a big. Get Matthews or some other 2 back. And have Hayward to be the back up 2
Hayward will be nasty! Just wait the team will make him better quick! The Jazz will have a great season and I think they gonna make it to the conference finals if not the NBA finals! Great pick ups by KOC!
Jefferson=Better Boozer
Bell=Matthews
Hayward=Korver
its like we never lost the players
if only we have a decent center like the Chicago Jazz (Noah)
Nice comment David, but I think Hayward will surpass Korver real quick in the all around aspect of his game. He already plays better d and I know he will get a lot of open looks in our system.
I think Hayward was the perfect pick for the Jazz. He isn’t guaranteed to be good, but nobody else in the draft is either (see Oden, Greg). He fits into the system perfectly and has good all around game. Rather than having specialists like Kyle Korver for shooting, or Wes on defense, Hayward should be able to do a little bit of everything. I like him more at the 2 until he picks up some more strength, but he should get some time at the 3 as well.
this guy was the best pick available and a sloan-type player. It’s a pitty not having been able to trade up for Monroe : At half-time in today’s summer league game he has 17 pts / 8 rbd / 100% FG … in 17 min. Wow.
I like Hayward. He shows an understanding of the game that not many players have. He can shoot very well to. He will be another play maker out there and he will turn out fine.
G.Hayward= 2011 ROY..