Where does Hayes fit in now?

He still has a role as long as he's on the team. And I don't think they want to bench him completely in case there is any trade market.

He is an energy big and he showed in preseason he can run with 2nds and cause some mismatches.

You take a minute or two away from Zion, Jonas, Nance, and (more so) Naji and that gives you Jaxson minutes.

There are games where he could play more than Nance because of the matchup or pace of the game. I don't think there are a lot of games like that but I could see it from time to time.

Packaged with other Players, on another team.

i agree with everything Bunchie said.

I'm ready to trade him this year for pretty much anything, but when he's healthy and engaged, he still gives us good minutes.


I think its interesting when you look at his +/- for each game last year, especially at the end of the year. His +/- was positive when it was a win and negative when we lost 30 of the last 36 games, playoffs included.
Does that mean he's impacting our wins and losses that much? I doubt it, and more like he's just along for the ride, but over those 30 games he was averaging 11.5ppg and 5.5rpg with a block, playing 26mpg and hitting 39% from 3.


If the team really thinks he affects winning as a bench player, and thinks he can become someone who might be able to close games for us, then he'll get a 3/$30 deal from us. But what is very likely to happen is no one wants to give us anything of value for him this year, no one wants to give him $10M/yr for multiple years in RFA, and we end up keeping him and signing him to basically a 1 year deal at $10M with the intent to trade him like we did with Hart, and just like what Orlando is experiencing with Mo Bamba.

Absolutely there is a spot for Hayes! He is the second Big on the 2nd unit.
Hayes and Nance or Hayes and Zion.
As good as we looked, we need a big with Jacksons Skill Set. He is a Switchable big with incredible athleticism

quote:

---

He seems very engaged and having fun on the sideline

---

well he's always had his fun, the problem is he's more interested in the fun instead of working hard.

It depends on if we want to pay the tax.

We are -7.5 mil as of now without Jax.

If we trade Temple + Graham for no assets then we would have exactly 9.5 mil left. I’d imagine Jax would get just about all of that and we would still have to fill 2 roster spots.

I like him/ his potential a lot but I’m positive we can find someone to do what he does for cheaper. If he can come back shooting outside the paint efficiently or playing legit defense against centers then I’m all for it.

I could be wrong but i remember hayes playing really well with zion 2 years ago. Id like to see that pairing again

Nance is pretty injury prone. And I’m sure Zion will miss some games. There will be mins for him.

My only question with Hayes is his rebounding. If he really shows up and rebound the ball at a high level, I think he can be on the court with any lineup. He's shown some glimpse but I want to see some consistency boxing out and on the boards.

quote:

---

You have to think about how many times during an 82-game season that someone will be out. Hayes will be valuable to have in games where Nance, Jonas or Zion are out or need to rest.

---

Yep, I think Herb was the only starter to play 70+ games last season. The rest avg'd in the low 60s.

That's roughly 90 to 100 games needing to fill starting minutes, so that already requires about 1.25 people, not including the bodies needed to fill in for missing bench 2nd teamers.