Thursday, April 14, 2011

Beard or Bust

Gordon Hayward’s pre-pubescent beard may remind some of you of J.D. from Scrubs but his growth, shot, and understanding of the game over the second half of the season kind of reminds me of a hybrid of Jeff Hornacek and Matt Harpring (weird right?)

When Hayward got drafted, people began to second guess the Jazz organization, which, let’s face it that is something to be considered with their track record. Me, I knew that this kid would grow into something. I know that it is too early to really start making any pre-conceived notion as to what he will become but if you just take one look at the before and after of the season, you can’t help but believe that he is going to help this organization out.

Since the passing of the torch from one coach to the other, Hayward has been given room to grow and gain some sense of confidence in the shot we saw him possess at Butler. Corbin has is giving this rookie a chance and it worked. Yes, the Jazz have to rebuild and had a lot of emotion conflict in the middle of the season when they had a shot at making the playoffs but that doesn’t change the fact that next year this will be a good team and Hayward will be a good starting player.

March 7th, his stats increased from 4.8 ppg at the end of February to 16.4 ppg at the end of their season. His assists have gone up from 1.1 to 3 apg. He is not selfish but he will be, trust me. He can create; he’s learning to handle the ball better and comes off screens ready to shoot with a very quick release.

I believe now but then again I always have. Too bad I have to wait 6 more months to see if I am going to eat these words.

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