Celtics will get first win tonight - Gordon Hayward to become a Celtic? Utah Jazz vs. Boston Celtics preview
The reason I say this is Boston had yesterday off and The Jazz are playing a back to back in the middle of a tough four game road swing after losing in Brooklyn last night 104-88.
Not to mention, The Jazz are just not very good. When your starting lineup includes an aging Richard Jefferson who averaged 3 points in ten minutes of action a game last season with The Warriors and an aged Jamaal Tinsley your team is clearly in trouble.
The Jazz do feature a couple of really talented youngsters in their lineup, however, including Derrick Favors and Gordon Hayward.
Jay Wierenga of Bleacher Report, in fact, likes Derrick Favors so much that he considers Favors recent contract extension a "bargain:"
Thus far in his career, the talented Favors has just middle-of-the-road numbers and certainly not the kind of stats that fill up the box score.
He is averaging only 8.3 points and 6.3 rebounds per game.
However, the Jazz felt it necessary to give him a contract worth an average of nearly $12 million per season.
The craziest part of this whole situation is that the Utah Jazz actually got a bargain.
Derrick Favors is worth every penny of his contract extension and likely a whole lot more.
Celtics fans will be interested in watching Hayward as a result of him becoming a restricted free agent this summer and having played in back to back NCAA national championship games for Celtic coach Brad Stevens while they were both at Butler.
Hence, many pundits think Boston could be a possible destination for Hayward.
I'm a fan of Hayward's and really like his playing style. In fact, a friend once compared his game to mine from my playing days, however, I just do not from a practical perspective see him adorning Celtic green.
There's been speculation that there could be a feeding frenzy for Hayward's services in free agency but even though he's playing very well this season (16.8 pts., 4.8 assists, and 6 rebounds a game) he is definitely not worth a max contract to the Celtic organization.
For starters, where would he play? He's not going to displace Jeff Green who is under contract with The C's for at least this year and the next and will in all likelihood exercise his player option in 2015-2016.
And I would prefer to re-sign and keep Avery Bradley in the lineup as a starter just for his defensive intensity.
Even if The Celts decide Green is not their future go to guy I don't see Hayward as a max player and star in this league anyhow.
I see him as a great complementary player and someone that can definitely help your team win, but, as Mark Vandeusen addressed on Celtic's Life earlier today, just not a max contract superstar.
Another interesting side note to this game is the absence of Utah Jazz rookie and former college player of the year, Trey Burke, who is out due to a broken finger.
This is more a personal disappointment because I think NBA GMs will look very closely at Burke's performance when deciding Jahii Carson's, from my alma mater Arizona State University, draft value.
The good news for Jahii is another "undersized" quick as lightning excellent passing point guard, Chris Paul, is having an unbelievable season early.
Anyhow, to summarize, Celtics get first victory and Hayward is re-signed by The Jazz for a max deal next summer.
Follow Clint on Twitter @coolhandc
