Gordon Hayward: An Underrated Pickup by OKC? | The Mismatch | The Ringer
It’s like a nice short-term deal for Oklahoma City but also a potentially very valuable future Deal what do you think about Oklahoma City getting Gordon Hayward give up uh you know the beron contract Trey man couple other uh assets but nothing that was you know playing significant minutes for them and acquire Gordon Hayward you like this deal Gordon Hayward to the Thunder could end
Up being one of the most important Acquisitions of the day and the reason why is because of the versatility he’s going to provide in their rotation he can either be a a bench ball handler a guy behind Shay gildas Alexander who can help run the offense and facilitate
Things or B he can be that fifth guy on the floor who provides a different look than Josh giddy giddy has improved as a shooter this season but he’s still not a knockdown Guy Gordon Hayward in no way in no way is an elite shooter but he’s a
Better shooter than giddy so he can still provide some of that connective passing ability that giddy has provided in that kind of spot up role and that next to sgaa next to Chad next to Jaylen Williams but he can provide better shooting more experience and I think that type of Versatility and that
Thunder rotation could could boost the types of lineups that Mark Dell can throw out there and with the way he can structure his rotations depending on the matchup depending on how giddy shot develops Gordon Hayward this is an opportunity for him to improve his own his own stock too in this situation
Because he doesn’t need to do a lot uh to make a positive impacts here’s the one thing I’ll say about it is it’s not we talk about this a lot when it comes to the playoffs it’s not always about the individual numbers that a guy puts
Up as much as what he can provide a team regarding the way they play offense and I look at it and I say look if Hayward can stay healthy and he can play minutes for you the giddy thing it’s going to be a situation that they get into when
They’re playing High leverage basketball and people just do not stand out there with giddy so now you’re more crowded for SGA because my guy is now standing at the free throw line rather than out at the three-point line and if Gordon Hayward could just be a guy that when he
Is out there he has to be guarded all the way out to the three-point line teams aren’t just going to be able to cheat off him teams aren’t going to be able to leave him now that just by him being there and being guarded all the way out there just by his
Presence all of a sudden it makes SGA and everything else they’re doing so much easier to manage I’ll give you for instance last year you saw it when Memphis got into the playoffs they’re playing against Lakers and they just acted like Dylan Brooks had SARS they’re
Just can’t get farther away from him and yet when they brought in Luke Canard all of a sudden now you’ve got all these guys now the Lane’s starting to open up because now everybody you can’t have four guys standing with a foot in the lane and then doing a a close out that
You don’t even really want to close out on because you’d rather have these guys shooting but as long as you’ve got somebody out there that can space the floor out it ends up making your best players better and so I look at it and say man if Gord could just stand out
There knock down a reliable amount but more importantly just be guarded all the way out to the three-point line that’s that’s where SGA is an impossible one-on-one guard you’ve got to make him see2 and to me at least Hayward makes it so you can play where he only has to see
One and then now you’re now you’re cook with grease so I’d look at it but he’s always hurt he’s always hurt it’s a perfect acquisition for them because he he helps now but also he’s an upcoming free agent so they have flexibility there you either can enter
The offseason with cap space or you can enter the offseason deciding yeah we’ll Reign him to number X and then that X number could be the deal that you end up flipping for a star in the future using your big pile of draft picks that you have that could be a very valuable
Contract in that sense so it’s like a nice shortterm deal for Oklahoma City but also a potentially very valuable future deal and I think with then like I I’m working on doing my power rankings that’ll be up soon on the ringer OKC like Championship Power Rankings H how high would you have them
Like I have them penciled in currently at third oh my Championship Power Rankings is that premature a playoff series first ridiculous yes sure it’s it would be unheard of for the youngest team in basketball to go all the way to the finals but this team is is an outlier in
Terms of they have an MVP top five candidate in sgaa they have another all-nba caliber talent and jayen Williams they have Chad holgren who’s a all defense all defensive team candidate they have so much depth and versatility they have one of the best coaches in the league and Mark dnal why is it
Unreasonable at this point they’re one of the best teams in basketball today they’re ly positioned to have success in the postseason with their versatility why why not have them that high because we pay attention to the history of the NBA and the history NBA tells you
That you’ve got to go in and you got to take your lumps you’re going to be going up against veteran teams you’re also going up against a team you’re going to be going up against teams with a bunch of size that is going to be the one thing
That really can bother them is when it turns into more of a halfcourt b basketball game there’s going to be some volleyball played on the boards against some of these bigger teams because they can’t match up size-wise and so they have to use their advantage and the
Other thing is just being through it being through that level of intensity being through the game planning for one team and all of your weaknesses get exposed literally all of your weaknesses that’s something that is learned because those guys what happens is you go you
Take your lumps you lose and then you go back and you say all right now when they are focused on me when it’s not a one-off when they focused on me here’s what I couldn’t do and then you go and F that’s why it takes a while that’s why
All of these teams even the best teams even the team that we are celebrating still as reigning Champions the Denver Nuggets and we come in here every year we talk about taking your playoff scars that’s the way it works so when you say why not that’s why because we’ve seen
All kinds of great young teams burst on the scene they still have to they still catch their scars it’s never an easy Road and most of the time it’s pretty tough they might I mean I’m not saying they can’t win a series but I’m saying
By the time you get to the second round and you’re down to four teams but here’s the thing I have him behind Denver I have him behind the Clippers isn’t that unusual like like unreasonable to have them ahead of the Timberwolves ahead of the Suns with all their defensive concerns ahead of Lakers
Mavericks Pelicans I mean I don’t know like I would you really put any of those teams ahead of the Thunder despite their youth in the West in terms of a again you’re not asking me about where they should be ranked in terms of of their strength right now you’re asking me where they
Should be Championship yes yes I would have them below those ter winning the championship Minnesota M Minnesota Phoenix and Dallas yeah yeah yes I would say those teams have a better chance and that is not being disrespectful to Oklahoma City I I mean look everybody comes on
Here I don’t know I don’t know Chris I I think I think it might be I think you’re underrating them personally I Do
The Ringer’s Kevin O’Connor and Chris Vernon discuss the Thunder after the NBA trade deadline that saw them pick up Gordon Hayward from the Hornets.
Check out the Bill Simmons YouTube channel: youtube.com/billsimmons
Subscribe to The Ringer on YouTube: http://therin.gr/5te1wFL
CONNECT
Shop: https://theringer.com/shop
Website: http://theringer.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ringer
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ringer
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ringer
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCT83YP07yVuaH9J19YABhlw
19 Comments
Chuck thought this was a big deal last night on TNT as well.
KOC looking good with the beard and weight loss
That is not what I thought Verno would look like😂 And if I only saw him in person I'd be so surprised when he started talking.
OKC can shit in bag and these guys would call it masterful move by Presti. OKC is first round fodder. They aren't going to do anything in the playoffs.
Somebody on this thread must be a Rockets fan.
People keep bringing up this half court stuff apparently without knowing they are consistently ranked in the top 5:in both offense and defense half court. They should learn the stats before they assume.
Thanks big wos 🫡💯
No way they get passed (a healthy) Nuggets or Clippers team. I think they lose to the Pelicans. Wolves would be tough. They can beat the Mavs, Suns, Lakers, and Warriors
teams don't just go from not making the playoffs to the finals. It's called growing pains for a reason. Someone could fact check this but I'm pretty sure it's never happened
Easy explanation for most of the reason young teams or teams that dont have playoff experience dont win championships: they're not the best team.
Not saying Thunder will win a series, but correlation =/= causation. Need to evaluate the Thunder for the team they are, not based on some made up rule of thumb.
I take almost everything Verno says with a grain of salt, but given how often Bill Simmons talks about "The Breaks of the Game" I'm still pretty surprised how adamant he was that "the youngest team never wins/gotta take their lumps." And even though KOC is a youngster between his knowledge of the game and skepticism at Verno's tirades I'm even more surprised that he didn't say, "What about the '77 Trail Blazers, Chris?" Yes, they were an anomaly, but they won on their first playoff run and remain the youngest NBA champs.
Who’s the blowhard on the right? Does he even watch these games?
If I became an overnight GIGA BILLIONAIRE, I'd buy a team. Then I'd hire KOC as a shadow Assistant GM so he could shill the fk out of my team on the pod and make sure good trades are being made.
Verno looks like a statuesque Greek sculpture that came to life at Night at the Museum w/ Ben Stiller, but had a really unfortunate Brooklyn accent.
Chris the only one down on OKC lol it's wild. Thunder has beaten all the teams he said they would struggle against because "size".
I thought Gordon was hurt and out of the league. Mistake or prediction of the near future.
Magic and Bird were successful right away. 🤔
Terrible pick up.. can’t defend, can’t rebound, not a great shooter, not a great play maker, consistently hurt. This makes no sense. His best attribute is scoring (which he’s average at best at) which we have plenty of. Trying to use him in place of Giddy who’s passing actually compliments our scorers ( not to mention the chemistry) just makes me scratch my head smh
I truly hope okc wins it all this year so we can do away with this idea that young teams can’t win. It’ll join a long list of things people thought impossible until it happened. Once upon a time your team couldn’t win if your best player was a dominant scorer/ a guard. Then MJ happened. Then people believed you couldn’t win as a 3pt shooting team. Then GSW happened. All this to say no rule is set in stone, the only reason younger teams haven’t won in the past was because they weren’t good enough. It’s literally the same as with golden state, no 3pt shooting team had won prior to that because they weren’t good enough, not because there was something innately wrong with 3pt shooting teams. I want you to ponder something for a sec. Suppose this okc team had gotten the #1 pick last year and gotten wemby. Their average age would be younger, but does anyone doubt that they’d be a much better team with a better chance at winning it all? This is just to highlight how the age is not the deciding factor, the talent of the players is much more pivotal in a team’s chances of winning a championship.