Future overpaid Celtic(?) Gordon Hayward comes to town tonight
With the Jazz visiting the C's this evening, one of the major story lines is Butler alum Gordon Hayward playing against his former coach, Brad Stevens. Hayward will be a restricted free agent at season's end, and the rumors about him potentially coming to Boston have been abuzz pretty much since the day the Celtics hired Stevens.
Yesterday in his "Eight Fearless Predictions for 2013-14" column, ESPN's Marc Stein presented something I can only describe as a highly disturbing scenario:
Gordon Hayward will land a four-year max offer sheet in restricted free agency next July.
Contrary to some of the chatter out there, Hayward was not seeking the four-year max worth in excess of $60 million from Utah during the past month-plus of negotiations, but I'm convinced that's a legit possibility for him in the summer when he becomes a restricted free agent. There are too many Hayward fans in front offices around the league...
...You'll recall that it's not too far in the past that Eric Gordon landed a four-year max offer sheet in restricted free agency from Phoenix amid serious questions about his knees. The Suns and Boston Celtics -- just to name two franchises known to be big Hayward admirers with Jeff Hornacek and Brad Stevens running their respective benches -- are among those projected to have the cap space to put an uncomfortable offer on the table.
Hayward is a nice little player, but a 16-17 PPG small forward with three-point range at $15 mil a year feels like the key ingredient to many seasons of slightly less than mediocrity.
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