Thought Hayes would be better at this stage

Can say the same for Zion

Heard the same thing about NAW not too long ago, both are very young, NAW just seems much more of a student of the game, my guess is it's going to take Hayes longer as he has more body to fill out and just has more to learn, patience is the key here

This is probanly what we should expect in the first half of the season. Hayes is going to look bad against well coached good teams and look competent against bad ones. Hopefully he can get to the point where he can contribute against good teams after the break.

He was a project when we took him. He didn’t even get a full season in last year. What did you really expect? Isn’t he still like 19?

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Jax did some nice defensive things today

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I thought so too. Last two games he did some nice things. Did some dumb things too, but he's getting better.
You have to keep playing him and work those things out of him.

Like late in the game when he rotated nicely and jumped straight up and put his hands down instead of leaving them up. He's been doing that, and they called the foul, and you saw the whole bench put their hands up to tell him "idiot, just keep your hands straight up and it's not a foul". I think Jaxson thinks he never fouls and is always arguing with the refs on what he did, and i'll give him the benefit of the doubt a good bit b/c the refs are overly hard on him b/c he's young and they have some stupid "respect is earned" bullshite with how they call. A foul is a foul, whether it was Jaxson or Lebron committing it. Seeing your teammates immediately correct you when you foul is something that should get through his thick skull quickly.


I would say the thing that is more concerning to me is the offense for him. He hasn't taken any mid range shots at all, and that's something i would have hoped he worked on. And he's fumbling balls all over the place in the lane off passes. What did he work on in the offseason to get better at on that end of the court?

I don't want him to be on the court worrying about offense right now. He should only focus 100% on defense, rebounding, boxing out, positioning, hustle, and energy right now. Last season he was too focused on offense when he was on the court.

I’m not writing him off but the outlook is not great and I think most people have rightfully reigned in their expectations for him to ever be the all star level rim running compliment to Zion.

He has had 62 games and essentially 2 1/2 training camps and so far looks worse or unimproved in pretty much every facet of the game. Which is troubling because things like his rebounding from a technical level were knocks on him going back to High School and they still persist.

At this point a better Nerlens Noel is what I’m hoping for and that isn’t a player I give up the fourth pick for or pick 8th overall.

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At this point a better Nerlens Noel is what I’m hoping for and that isn’t a player I give up the fourth pick for or pick 8th overall.

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there is a super high bust rate after the top 4. It is a risk to move back in the draft and especially a risk if you draft a project after moving back.

the higher odds are you take the prospect at 4 and swing for the fence. If you move back, a player with a lower ceiling is the best chance at success.

griffin took a huge risk with that 4th pick as the likelihood is now that it will be the highest pick they ever get from all the trades. There’s no harm in pointing that out at all. It’s on their coaches now to teach hayes how to play basketball

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It does look like he declined from last year

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Not to me. We aren't getting as much production from him offensively, but that's because his value is in:

1) running the floor in transition, and we don't run as much as we did last year, and in

2) rolling to the basket in the P&R, and without Jrue, we don't do this as often or as well.

Hayes hasn't declined defensively at all. He's still blocking and changing lots of shots at the rim.