Free Agent Profile: Gordon Hayward

Last week’s free agent profile featured Miami Heat star LeBron James and the possibilities he makes his way to Philly. It may have been just a tad on the crazy side but it’s always fun to dream about big stars coming to play for your team. In all seriousness though, don’t completely cross LeBron off your list, because I can guarantee you that if he does leave Miami more talks about the Sixers will surface.

But let’s say the Sixers miss out on LeBron this year, what other free agents could they potentially lure to Philadelphia to play with our abundance of young talent? This week’s free agent profile is a little more realistic as we take a look at Utah Jazz forward Gordon Hayward. The 6’8, 220lbs, 24 year old out of Butler University suited up in 77 of 82 games for the Jazz this season, accumulating 16.2 points per game, along with 5.1 rebounds, and 5.2 assists. Almost all of Hayward’s stats have progressively increased over his first four seasons with career highs in points, rebounds, and assists this past year. Hayward was actually one of just four players to average at least 15 points, 5 rebounds, and 5 assists this season. The others were LeBron James, Kevin Durant, and how about this, our very own Rookie of the Year Michael Carter-Williams. Hayward has clearly grown into a legit threat and found his role in this league. The kid can play and if the chips fall the right way this offseason, it’s very possible Hayward could be in a Sixers uniform come next season.

While Hayward has improved tremendously over the first few years, there are unfortunately a few rough patches in his game. Remember those Butler teams that Hayward led deep into the NCAA tournament in 2008 and 2009? What position did Gordon play? Back in his collegiate days, Hayward played almost like a power forward for Butler. Technically, you can say he played Center because he was their biggest player on the floor at all times. Point is he played down low for such a long period of time in college so after he was drafted he had to develop an outside game and work on ball handling skills because he is way too small to play down low in the NBA. Now although over the first few years of his career his outside game and ball handling skills have improved, there are still certain times were people are left wondering if he can really ever turn into a stud at that Guard/Forward position. With all the improvement to his outside game and his jumper, Hayward’s 41.3 shooting percentage leaves a lot to be desired. I don’t think this will turn teams away from him because his jumper has been getting better year after year but it’s just a flaw in his game to watch out for.

Can you picture Gordon Hayward starting for our Sixers next year? I can and I feel he would become a huge asset to this team. Depending on who we draft would determine what exact position he would play but most likely shooting guard or small forward. 15 points, 5 boards, and 5 dimes a night sounds pretty good to me too. Those stats along with Michael Carter-Williams’ numbers, Nerlens’ numbers, then mix them with two lottery picks this year. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t like it. 

It is clear that members of the Jazz organization want Hayward to still be wearing their uniform next season. GM Dennis Lindsey said he hopes restricted free agent Gordon Hayward is a “career Jazz member”. Hayward mad approximately 3.4 million this season and is scheduled to make about 4.6 million next season. He is a restricted free agent though, which means he can’t just sign with any team he pleases. Utah will have the chance to match any offer any team throws his way and this leaves the Sixers in a very unfortunate situation. Utah has the cap room to match any reasonable offer and based off what their GM said about keeping Hayward, it looks to me like the plan will be to match any offer. So the Sixers could throw Hayward a ton of money and hope Utah decides to back out but then you run the risk of really over paying for a guy like Hayward. It’s a tough situation and personally in my opinion, Utah will not let Hayward leave. I believe they will match almost any offer, but if the Sixers really feel that Hayward is the guy they need, then give it a shot. If the opportunity to get Hayward for a reasonable price presents itself then I would say yes to the idea of bringing him to Philly, just please don’t overpay for him.