Gordon Hayward: Can He Live Up to Max Deal?
By Evan Massey
Can Utah Jazz small forward Gordon Hayward live up to the maximum contract he received this past offseason?
The Utah Jazz matched a maximum contract offer to Gordon Hayward from the Charlotte Hornets, which was a very debated move by fans and the media. Hayward is a solid player, but he hadn’t shown anything to deserve a max deal to that point. He started the season off slow this year against the Houston Rockets, and that is beginning to raise some concern about whether or not Hayward will live up to his max deal.
Take a look at the stats from Hayward last night in the Jazz season opener:
| MP | FG% | 3P% | FT% | TRB | AST | STL | BLK | TOV | PF | PTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 38:08 | .273 | .000 | 1.000 | 8 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 8 |
Provided by Basketball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 10/30/2014.
He made some plays with his passing and he rebounded well, but the scoring simply wasn’t there. Last season he struggled in a big way with his shot, shooting just 41.3 percent from the floor overall and 30.4 percent from behind the three-point arc. It’s just the first game, but he didn’t look like he could shoot the ball against the Rockets.
At just 24 years of age he is still a young player, but he has had enough experience that he should be more consistent. After just one game it’s not time to rip a player for shooting poorly, but that is still a major concern moving forward.
Utah has quite a bit of good young talent on the roster, but they need their max player to step up and lead them. Hayward did anything but lead the Jazz last night, and there are concerns that matching the deal will end up being a major mistake. There is no doubt that Hayward has a diverse game that should fit very nicely into the NBA, but he has to figure out how to score consistently.
There simply aren’t any reasons for why Hayward’s shot has simply disappeared over the last couple of years. He was a consistent shooter from anywhere on the floor in his days at Butler, and showed a strong shooting ability throughout the first few seasons of his NBA career. Perhaps he is simply allowing his struggles of late to continue bothering him.
No matter what the issues with his shot is, it has to change in the near future if he wants to help the Jazz take the next step this season. Hayward does have the potential to become a max worthy player if he can reach his full potential, but he has seemed to be falling away from that rather than moving toward it. The Jazz are still confident in their young forward, but they have to be a bit worried after the rough start to the year.
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On the bright side, he has become a better playmaker for his teammates and showed that with his seven assists yesterday. He’s a solid ball-handler, but had issues taking care of the basketball last year with 2.8 turnovers per game. It will be interesting to see if he can continue being a strong passer throughout the remainder of the year, or if that was an every once in awhile occurrence.
All of that being said, the Jazz have plenty of young talent for the future but shouldn’t have matched the max offer to Hayward. He has the potential to be an above average player, but he wasn’t worth that type of deal at the time and may never end up being that type of a player. That being said, it will all rest on Hayward’s shoulders and how hard he wants to work on his game.
Can he live up to the max deal that the Jazz gave him? Yes. He has a lot of work to do before he gets there, but he does have the talent and potential to reach that level.