Not really. Though if you said he'd be our best consistent player, then I might agree. Talent-wise Harden and Hayward are on different tiers though.
Yep. Gordon is consistently good. Harden is inconsistently great during playoffs. Meyers Leonard is consistently crap.
Or maybe not, Horford had no problems going there. Anyway i get what you're saying, we'll see if that has a bad impact (maybe he's not even in Boston much longer), but on the other hand, Thomas also got much better this season as a player and i can actually see a lot of guys having big respect for him and for how he came up big this season.
I'm a Harden "hater" all of a sudden, even though I'm not a hater, just recognizing it is what it is. But even I don't think Harden is typically that inconsistent. In the regular season he was really extremely consistent. Way more consistent than Gordon Hayward was. Playoffs.... I like Gordon Hayward. And I think his impact on a team is probably more than his stat sheet. because he plays "smart", "winning" basketball. But on no planet would he be the best player on the team. All that said, absolutely no one should be saying "look at Harden's unanimous 1st team all nba selection" and use that as a judge of which player is better than which player. Nobody though all nba team voting was even close to accurate last offseason.
Great point about Davis . Celtics have the most assets in the NBA , they are in a really great position , they just have to execute and figure out how to maximize their present/future value. I don't know if New Orleans would do it considering they just got cousins and probably want a chance at tailoring their roster around those two . But if they don't start off great I can see them moving both and going for the huge rebuild. I'm not sure the timing will work out from bostons perspective though . They probably want to trade before the draft actually happens.
I wouldnt want to sign hayward in all honesty, its not say he is a great player which he is. I just done see how he will push us over the top and paying him the max will basically put us in a stanglehold for the next 3 years. This team needs one of two things to start competing with the spurs cavs and warriors. 1.An elite big: Capela is a great young player , but if we can get somone who can guard the post, pull down 10 rebounds a game, and be a reliable secon option on offense when we cant get our shot early we would be that much more dangerous. 2.Elite wing defender who has playmaking ability and can hit the 3. Not alot of these players are out there obviously so they just dont grow on trees, and hayward is really close to fit this bill. While he is very good in all 3 phases he isnt elite in any , and the most important thing is the defense. if we are replacing ariza in the starting lineup we need someone who can defend as good or better then him. This year should be dedicated to finding more cap space so we can go after PG next year. We have alot of trade assets in LOU, Ariza, and have to attach ryno into one of those to get a better more servicable PF so that when we get our next superstar (if we ever do) we are not a **** defensive team. 39 year old Manu was taking ryno to school in the pick and pop we cant hide him and harden on d in the playoffs
hayward's best 2 moves are: 1. stay in utah - most money, young playoff team on the rise, he's the face of the team 2. go to boston - best chance of winning, great fit, reunite with college coach why even consider a 3rd option? we can't offer more money or a better chance of winning than his first 2 options. our best chance at a big name free agent is blake. if he choses to leave its because he wants to win. best chance of that is in boston or houston. if hayward goes to boston, blake's next best chance at winning is in houston. if hayward stays in utah, blake probably goes to boston to make the conference finals. in that case we are down to our 3rd option, millsap. if millsap wants to win he will come to houston. However, its possible that dallas chooses to overpay since thats the only way they ever land free agents. if that happens i think we're screwed. we'd probably choose to not clear extra cap space and use what we have ($8M?) to sign a backup center like monroe or baynes or something that won't really move the needle but will give us an asset. in the end i think its most likely that hayward stays in utah, blake goes to boston, and we get millsap. he's passing on more money in atlanta because he wants to win, that won't happen in dallas. he's on the wrong side of 30, undersized, and never really good enough to be an all-star... so signing him to the max isn't a great option but it wouldn't be a bad contract if we can get him on a 3 year instead of 4 year deal... or 4 year but front loaded. he's give us a post defender and go-to scorer that could've helped win game 5 against SAS. he can hit the 3 and gets a lot of assists for a PF. he'd be a nice fit on offense and much needed help on defense, and would make us the clear #2 in the west.
If Hayward doesn't push us over the top, nobody will in the next 3 years anyway, just saying...he's without question the best player available this summer, and that's over Chris Paul too. And here we would have a problem cause there isn't a true big worth a max this summer, there might be one next summer but it would still be somehow risky since we're talking about Boogie. Hayward is basically what you're asking for here, he's not elite on defense, but he's very good. Tbh i'm not sure Ariza is that much better than him on defense at this point, and i love Trevor. But anyway, you just won't find a 3 with elite defense, 40% 3pt shooting and playmaking ability...Hayward is actually the guy who comes closer to this imo, Kawhi is a better defender but not as good handling the ball. This might be a good point though, i mean, if we cannot sign a top player, just make the roster better with minor moves, try to add a couple of assets and look at what you can find at the dealine or next summer...maybe some of our young guys are going to make a good jump this season and their value will be higher at the deadline...
Heat and Riley could be an interesting sleeper. I think he stays in Utah. Would love to have him here, but I don't see it happening. Bring Paul George to Htown.
Hayward will not sign with us If he go after the money he will resign with Utah If he want to win a championship, in Boston he has more chances than with us. 2 top3 picks in recent years plus maybe another next yeas, Conference finalist with a lot of nice player all with very friendly contracts, History , Media and in the East
It's going to be Gallinari. We'll move Lou Williams contract to create $20 million in space and give it to him. He's got size, can create his own shot, draws fouls, hits 3s, and D'Antoni is a friend of his family. PG: Beverley / Gordon SG: Harden / Ariza SF: Gallinari / Dekker PF: Anderson / Harrell / Qi C: Capella / Nene / Onuaku
I agree but do you think we can beat the warriors if we added hayward? probably not....i dont want to say whats the point because i know he makes us much much better , but at the same time i cant help think it. We cant let a temporary updgrade no matter how big it is blind us from the ultimate goal. Wed be cap strapped to add anything to the team if we did that. I agree here....i love what we have with capela and still believe he gets better and stronger as time goes on so i dont think we should be looking to add an elite big over an elite wing with how we are constructed. We can however unload ryno, lou and a draft pick for a more defensive minded PF who can still shoot like Millsap or ibaka. The shooting ryno has doesent overcome his defencies on the other side of court, for me its not even close. Good defense will give you more fast breaks and transition offense where we murder teams. Lou and ryno cant cut it in the playoffs because the defense they bring doesent offsett what they can do offensively. Every possesion in the playoffs counts thats why you saw teams keep putting ryno and lou in the pick and pop or just posting ryno up with taj or LA.
hayward's awesome, but just skimming over these past couple of pages, dude is getting a bit overrated by some of y'all... him and harden are not in the same tier, y'all really gotta chill lol
Anyone thinking Hayward, a free agent, will choose Houston over Utah or Boston is delusional. Paul George forcing a trade here--especially after our game 6 debacle--is beyond delusional. Moving Anderson in a deal for Blake is as good as we can expect, and even that's a 'stretch' (sorry, couldn't resist). Milsap is definitely an upgrade but won't catapult us into the next tier. What a time to be alive!
