Is Hayward our main target this summer?

[DERRENMATTS]

I'm just going to throw this thought out there since we've been talking about Gordon Hayward ever since Brad Stevens became our coach.

Hayward can choose to opt out of his final year in Utah, and become a free agent. Let's say he bolts Utah for us because:

- he loves Brad Stevens
- he sees a clearer path to the championship with Boston, since Golden State and San Antonio aren't in the east, and because Lebron James at some point will start to decline, leaving the east wide open.
- having star players to play with makes life easier for him (IT and Horford)

Danny basically shut down trade opportunities for Paul George and Jimmy Butler because he'd have to give up our treasure chest of assets for them. But for Hayward coming over as a free agent, Ainge gets to keep his young players, as well as his precious draft picks.

That means, in addition to adding Hayward, we still get to add this year's draft pick (Fultz, Ball, Jackson, etc). And we don't need to trade away a package of these players; Jaylen, Crowder, Smart, Bradley, Rozier, Zizic, Yabusele, Nader, etc.

So in a nutshell, we keep the core of this team intact (minus suspect guys like Amir, Zeller, Olynyk, Jerebko, Gerald), keep the young core we're developing, add All-Star Gordon Hayward, and add a very high lottery pick. Plus we bring over Zizic, who should eventually be an upgrade over any big man we have on the team, aside from Horford.

[afceltic]

This is the obvious way to go and IMO the best case scenario outside of signing Hayward and trading some guys for a legit big man. So that probably means Danny is working in a different direction. Not because I think he's a bad GM or anything like that, but Danny has never done the obvious thing when it comes to draft picks or in FA.

[FLCeltsFan]

If Hayward wants to leave the Jazz, the Celtics are the obvious choice. But the question is, does he want to leave the Jazz? He seems pretty happy there and they like him.

[DERRENMATTS]

Yeah, odds are he'll stay. But again, there are reasons for him to make the move. If he stays in the West, his team is not likely to make it to the Finals. He ought to use his prime years on a team who not only can have the best record in the east (as we did this year), but also get a chance to make it to the Finals (if Lebron gets injured for any extended amount of time, the Cavs aren't going far.

[FLCeltsFan]

Yep, Cavs are very LeBron dependent. If he's out for any time they sink. Warriors on the other hand can lose one of their stars for awhile and still stay on top. Besides, LeBron is getting up there in years and won't play at this level for too much longer before age catches up to him.

[freshnthehouse]

I like Hayward, but I feel he is redundant for this roster. There is a good chance we will be adding a SG/SF via the draft (Even Ball will have to guard SGs at the next level). The last thing we need is more swingman health. I don't see a max level free agent that fits with us (maybe Blake, but I doubt he leaves). And bringing in a free agent will be tough. Zizic and Yabu would have to stay overseas for a year. We'd have to either trade Bradley for a lower salary player or move someone like Rozier for a feature pick. And as DM mentioned Amir, Jonas and KO would have to be jettisoned. None of these are franchise killing moves, but they would hurt our depth. And I certainly don't think Hayward makes us a contender.

[DERRENMATTS]

Apr 25, 2017 12:52:52 GMT -5 FLCeltsFan said:

Yep, Cavs are very LeBron dependent. If he's out for any time they sink. Warriors on the other hand can lose one of their stars for awhile and still stay on top. Besides, LeBron is getting up there in years and won't play at this level for too much longer before age catches up to him.

Which makes the east open for business. Between us, the Raptors, Philly, maybe the Wizards in another year or so, possibly Milwaukee, we're going to be competing for the eastern conference title.

With Hayward, and good high draft picks, and potentially good young players developing on our roster, we've got a chance to be top dogs.