Jaxson Hayes Discussion: He's Back

I don’t get the everyone can go crowd which tosses Jaxson and Jake out with the bathwater too. Big yes here especially at Jake’s locked in 6M with lots of room for improvement at 23 and hopefully not too big a raise for Hayes who’s still only …. what …. 25? Kinda depends on how much does he want to stay a Laker same as AR.

 

fat. whines too much.

 

Well I think if you're being completely neutral from a fan perspective that on this team only Hayes and AR are out playing their contracts. Luka by default as well since every MVP contender basically is more then their contract

LaRavia shooting woes were really really bad and were prolonged and cost this team wins

 

He does whine too much. No argument can be made to the contrary. And while it may not impact him, it for certain may impact the weak-minded bunch.

 

I will argue the counterpoint: if we had even a mid level defensive team, Jake missing shots would matter very little. His role isn’t to be our microwave scorer off the bench.
This is what happens when you build a good offensive team that just so happens to be one of the worst defensive squads in the League.
Offense comes and goes for even the best players(Kobe had dry spells), but defense keeps you in the games where your best players are having off nights.
We won’t be a serious contender until we have a squad that can lie in the group of the ten highest rated defensive teams.

 

Hayes has turned me into a believer this season with his excellent fit alongside Luka.
LaRavia has been up and down, but he’s on a very good contract and still has room to improve.
It’s nearly impossible these days to just buy and trade yourself into a Chip team- all contenders need to rely on developing their young talent in order to have a deep team in the future.

 

The numbers match the eye test - his impact (i.e. the wolves game) and his advanced numbers wer positive in the beginning of the year when he was hitting 3's. They nosedived as his shooting went downhill and I have a real issue if someone has watched games and not noticed how defenses have been taking away what Lakers like do (i.e. paint drives) and leaving LaRavia open. This has clearly cost the Lakers game

This is a two way league nowadays

 

I like Jake because he is one of the few guys that actually hustle during the game but he does need to fix that shot

 

Hayes is a good backup center. He's not good enough to be in a true timeshare like Gafford/Lively, but is a really nice backup behind a legit 30ish minutes a night starting center. We just need to find that guy.

As for Jake, we've just got to hope his shot improves a little bit. This is his 4th season, he's shot 34%, 34%, 42% and 33% from three. Last year is looking like a big outlier. If he could get that up to just like 36%, all of a sudden he's a great 8th-ish guy to have on a contending team. I don't need him to turn into a 40% guy, even just league average (35-36%) would be fine.

 

i'm not sure hayes isn't as good or better than gafford. i think you can have him and another 20mpg center and then play 8 centerless minutes a game and win a lot. keep a third guy like maxi around for injury insurance and games where you need 48 minutes of centers/18 fouls.

like, hayes and nick richards and kleber is enough if the rest of your roster is better (i.e., we get two more legit starters that fit nicely with luka/AR). if we had, say, jalen suggs/AR/luka/john collins (thinking athletic pf who can shoot, finish, and credibly defend) and that center rotation...we'd win a bunch, imo.