JUNE 29, 8:36am: There are conflicting reports on the order of Hayward’s meetings, with some reports – including one from ESPN’s Jorge Sedano – suggesting the sit-down with the Celtics will happen last, following Monday’s session with the Jazz.
The order of the meetings likely won’t end up being all that important, however. Last summer, for instance, Kevin Durant met with the Warriors second out of six teams.
JUNE 28, 8:23pm: Hayward will meet with the Celtics on Sunday, according to Scott Agness of Vigilant Sports.
7:10pm: The Heat will get the first meeting with Jazz free agent Gordon Hayward, reports Tony Jones of The Salt Lake Tribune.
Hayward has scheduled a session with Miami officials for Saturday, the first day of free agency, then will meet with Utah’s delegation on Monday. The Celtics will also get a meeting, but a date hasn’t been set, tweets A. Sherrod Blakely of CSNNE.
Those are the only three teams Hayward will be considering, Jones adds, and he would like to make a decision quickly. Hayward, who opted out of a $16.7MM deal for next season, is expected to receive max offers from all three organizations. However, the Jazz have the advantage of being able to sign him for five years, while the Heat and Celtics are limited to four.
Hayward, 27, is coming off his first All-Star appearance, averaging 21.9 points in 73 games and shooting almost 40% from 3-point range. He has spent the first seven years of his NBA career in Utah.
It seems like there must be a great deal of informal communication happening behind he scenes with deliberate leaks to the media. These three teams have been linked to Hayward for weeks.
Yeah how is all this even happening?
Liberal propaganda
Lol
I would find it hard to imagine Hayward going anywhere other than Boston.
a) Chance to be on a great team that can go deep into the playoffs.
b) Great white player playing in Boston can mean major endorsement deals. Let’s be honest, that’s a plus for him. They haven’t had a great white player since Bird retired.
c) Won’t necessarily have to be the best player on the team.
Re: b)…….White Mamba is offended by your lack of memory
This is the second comment that has me rolling on the floor today. True Celtics fans everywhere should be offended by his exclusion of the White Mamba!
There hasn’t been a great white basketball player since bird
Well it depends how you want to define white and how you want to define great, if Canadians and Germans count then I’d say Nash and Nowitzki, while not on Bird’s level, were both great players and will be hall of famers.
Granted their careers overlapped for a few seasons, but you can also throw John Stockton in that discussion. Doesn’t have as much name recognition as Larry Bird but he’s still one of the greatest points guards in NBA history.
d.) will help them land Paul George
If we can somehow pull it off, a lineup of IT Bradley, George(with a 3 year extension), Hayward, Horford with Smart Olynyk Taytum Brown Rozier a SG a PF and Zizic is pretty good. I know this is probably not what the team is going to look like next year but that would be my dream scenario, but only if George promises to sign at least a 3 year extension. If he isn’t I would much rather have Crowder and picks over George. Seller would probably also head to the Pacers in any deal to balance out the money but if their isn’t a George trade they should ship him out to some team for some picks or something just to clear up the money
I would think that Brown or Tatum would have to be part of any deal for George. it’s not like there’s even a full-time spot for them to grow into anyway.
Well, I could see Crowder, salary matching contracts, and 1-2 picks definitely getting it done, considering the lack of leverage Indiana really holds…I still think the Heat have a potentially good package to send back to Indiana, but the Celtics are the only team that I think could and would beat that offer, mostly regardless of combination of assets they use to structure the deal
They already said the won’t give up those 2 players so it’s more like Smart or Rozier
Then what’s the point? You aren’t gonna develop two 19 year old wing players by having them fight to be the 5th wing player in the rotation…
There is zero chance of that team happening, just from a salary standpoint..
Olynk will be gone this year if they get Hayward and pg.. can’t afford him.. he will get offers in the 16-18m range.. good as gone
They have to give up someone to get pg… guessing it’s Bradley or brown… won’t be able to afford him next year..
Lol no he won’t get more than 10-12 mil
I wouldn’t give Olynyk more than 5-7 million. 9 is the most I think he gets
But can’t you see the Nets swooping in and offering double digits if they strike out on KCP and Porter?
At this moment, I don’t know what his market will end up being
I’m calling 4/40. It’s an overpay for him, but it’s not much in today’s NBA, I mean that’s barely more than the midlevel and he’s certainly worth that.
He’s definitely going to get a contract over $10m AAV. Bigs last year got contracts in the $14m-$16m range and I think Olynyk’s range will help his case. Heck, Zeller and Amir Johnson got over $10m AAV and they did a whole lot less than Olynyk did/does.
Those bigs all play defense. Olynyk is a white Channing Frye or comparable to Meyers Leonards bad contract. I can see him getting the deal mentioned, but that’s his absolute ceiling to me, and I wouldn’t be the team that gives it to him b/c I’m not the team that’s going to be stuck trying to unload that the same way Portland and Cleveland are with those other guys
Tough to comp Deals made before last off season considering the huge payroll increases… O will get $14-16 million easy.
The Celtics’ biggest problem last year was rebounding. Having a starting 5 of IT-Bradley-George-Hayward-Horford does nothing to solve those issues, and might actually make the rebounding issue worse.
Also, the Celtics are unlikely to get much value in return for Zeller unless they want to take on some contracts. No one is going to trade for Zeller (at his salary) for just picks (and waiving him for the cap space would be redundant, just don’t trade for him in the first place). For other players, it would likely have to be with another team looking to offload a bad contract and might give up a pick in that trade to help their cap…but the last thing the Celtics really need is more picks, especially if Ainge is just going to sit on them. The best shot of getting rid of Zeller is via buyout/waive or in a trade, as you mentioned, to help match salaries.
Zeller has a team option that won’t likely be picked up, making him a free agent.
Oh my bad. I knew Zeller’s second year was unguaranteed (technically) and was too lazy to check if it was an option or just an unguaranteed second year (like Amir Johnson’s first contract with the Celtics). But yeah, it most likely won’t be picked up unless they can find a trade partner soon (as a throw-in to help match salaries).
Uh, no, incorrect. The Cetlics biggest problem last season was not having a second dependable scorer that they could rely on beyond IT.
They had the lowest rebounding differential and rebounding percentage (the % of potential rebounds that they grab) amongst playoff teams this past postseason. Not having a second scorer was definitely an issue, but the biggest reason they got basically embarassed by the Cavs in the playoffs was because of their rebounding issues. Issues on offense and defense get heightened when you can’t rebound (i.e. being limited to one shot per possession or allowing multiple shots per possession). Adding Paul George and/or Gordan Hayward definitely helps some issues (mainly the secondary scorer issue) but still does nothing to address their rebounding issues.
Well there is talk they could land Blake Griffin that would help some of their rebounding problems
Pat Riley getting the 1st meeting this time to try and get some clarity quickly. There’s Plan A, Plan B, Plan C, and Plan Holy S… this dude is god himself…I would be fine with any of those plans, as would Pat Riley. I personally would like to have Gordon Hayward, but I still think he stays in Utah. That being said, I also had LeBron staying in Cleveland, and I had the Bulls ahead of the Heat as well, so what do I know lol…Hopefully none of our plans involve Blake Griffin. But if Hayward stays in Utah, I’m perfectly content with the other possibilities. So finding out quickly will allow us to still pursue those options
I think Hayward only stays in Utah if George Hill resigns. Supposedly he wants Utah to resign him (why want a potential suitor to sign/resign a guy if you’re not serious about signing/resigning yourself). But if he doesn’t go back to Utah, it’ll be interesting to see what his choice is. If he goes to Miami, he’ll be the star and face of the team. If he goes to Boston, he’ll be playing second fiddle to Thomas.
True. George Hill could dictate what happens with him. After the moves at the draft though, Utah could use some help at the 4, which was already a need before they moved Trey Lyles. They also obviously need to style healthy. That was an issue all season for them. I could also see them trying to move Alec Burks somewhere, but he has been injury prone, so I don’t know if anyone takes on his contract
Agreed that they could use help at the 4, but they don’t need to go out and get a big name. They still have Favors so they really just need to find a backup or two.
Favors for a few minutes at the 4 is ok, but I’d rather use him at the 5, for the most part, behind Gobert, so they need a more versatile option. They have Diaw, but he was bad last year at times
It looks like Hayward won’t meet with Utah until Monday which means he may not reach a decision until next Tues at the earliest and it won’t be a rushed midnight FA signing, so by Tues Paul George could already be dealt by Indiana to Lakers, Rockets, or Wizards.
Why would the pacers trade George before the get an offer from the Celtics?
Just watch the Rockets build a super team in front of our eyes without expecting it. Just imagine if they are able to land PG and someone like Griffin to reunite him with Paul have a lineup of Paul, Harden, PG, Griffin, Capella. That is a very scary team. I doubt they would have the money to do that unless they are willing to pay their bench guys at most $1 million each. As well as place a quality offer on George. The only down side of everything is that Ariza probably isn’t going anywhere because part of Paul’s desire to go to Huston was to play with his former teammate in New Orleans so he and his big contract are likely to stick around unless something unforeseen happens
Where there is smoke there is fire no matter what Doc says. Griffin wants to escape from CP not join up again for another failed attempt of a big 3.
The Rockets had to work some cap magic to fit CP3 in, Morey would be a cap god if he could fit in PG and Griffin (besides the fact that Griffin is unlikely to play with CP3 and the CP3-Harden-Griffin fit would be terrible).
I also don’t buy the PG to Houston trade talk. Don’t get me wrong, the Pacers have absolutely no leverage in trade talks and won’t be getting much back…but they can get more from the other trade suitors than Houston can offer. Houston’s best offer for PG would be something along the lines of Gordon, cap filler, and multiple future firsts. They can easily get the immediate young asset[s] they want from almost any other suitor. Even if Morey works a miracle and brings in PG, and then wants to pursue Griffin (like you suggested), they first have to find a taker for Anderson and most reports are saying teams are asking for at least two future firsts to be attached with Anderson in order to take on his contract. So you’re talking roughly 4 future firsts (one future first isn’t enough for PG considering the rest of the offer and when considering that the pick will likely be near the end of the first) that would be in 2020, 2022, 2024, and 2026…and I doubt the Pacers want to wait another 3-5 years (plus the years required to develop the prospects) to reap the rewards of a PG trade when the consensus is that they want to build around Turner for the future.
Well if Hayward ends up getting blown away at the Boston meeting which may now be last that could be relevant because it would be stupid not to draw up the max contract to have on hand, and if they get him to sign there and say, hey, it’s the last meeting, or even if it’s Utah, whoever goes last has an advantage I think.
Heat were last with Durant
I don’t see Hayward signing with Miami. Why would he leave Utah as the franchise player on a playoff team to go to Miami to be the franchise player while they are in rebuild mode. Boston is the actual and only threat to land Hayward.
They not in a rebuild mode but more like a retool to be a fringe playoff team mode. With Whiteside and Dragic signed to long term contracts (and no immediate signs that they are trying to trade either), the Heat are not rebuilding yet. But I do think you’re right; Utah and Boston are in a better position to contend and Utah can offer the most money…Miami’s pitch probably won’t be that significantly different to woo Hayward.