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.

 

Like Collins as well.To me he is a more physical higher IQ Rui

 

I am. Hayes vs. Gafford advanced stats are close this year, but the prior few years of Gafford are significantly better than anything Hayes has ever done. Basically, the version of Gafford that doesn't get to play with Luka profiles about the same as the version of Hayes that gets a Luka boost. And I think Gafford is a materially more intimidating presence defending the rim.

And I strongly disagree that a Hayes/Richards/Kleber center rotation is good enough, unless your goal is to win like 48-50 games and then bow out in the 1st round like we're probably going to do this year. Especially for a team built around Luka and Austin. I think our center needs to be the crux of our defensive scheme, because with Luka and Austin out there I don't know that we'll ever have sturdy enough perimeter defense to the point that we don't need the center to clean up breakdowns. I'd personally take the opposite approach to the lineup you suggested - I'd rather aim higher at the center spot (Kessler if he actually becomes available, which I don't think he will, Jarrett Allen, Hartenstein, even Gobert if the Wolves need to shed him) and go for lower cost options at the other two spots.

 

agree to disagree, i guess, on pretty much all counts.

i'd like to get jarrett allen, but paying big for nic claxton is still dumb, imo.

i think hartenstein is a bad fit with luka/AR. holmgren covers for his lack of athleticism. we don't have anything like that. at all.

hayes/richard/kleber is fine IF you get two more starting quality two-way guys at guard and forward. if you can't, then spending more on center makes sense.

 

The definition of all chest, no legs haha. Transcendent offensive player, traffic cone on defense. Love him though.

 

At least the kid actually competes on defense, unlike the majority of his teammates.
I don’t understand why some expect Luka and AR to be surrounded by All Star level talent at every position.
Yes, we need to have better two-way players, but we aren’t going to go from having none of these dudes, to an entire team chock full of them. There’s a place for guys like Hachi and LaRavia on a good team.
But let’s just have nearly complete roster turnover, year after year since that is how Championship Teams are built.

 

I’m so tired of hearing Kessler’s name around here.
It’s almost as if one of the biggest Laker haters of all time, Danny Ainge, isn’t in control of his destiny.
Sure, Danny would trade Kessler our way, but it would take something like 2 firsts, 2 seconds, Adou and Hayes.
It’s not happening.

 

All star level talent? This is a non-sequitor. Other teams roleplayer hits open shots - this is a basic requirement for an NBA player nowadays

 

Even the best players on the planet have shooting slumps.
Would we all love for LaRavia to shoot better? Of Course.
My main point is that he’s young, on a cost controlled contract, and still has room to grow.
Every single one of our role players, besides Jax, Kennard, and maybe Smart have struggled mightily this season. Jaxson, IMHO underperformed last season. We should have just traded him this summer, right?
Huff, who has turned himself into a decent role playing big was tossed out early because he struggled. So was Pippen Jr.
Goodwin wasn’t a sharp shooter, but is an awesome defender. We let him go and he literally leads the League in deflections.
Rui, a guy who should be a much better rebounder and defender, still holds value as a scorer off the bench because of his excellent three point shooting.
Flawed players can improve and do every single year in the NBA.

 

This is just a bunch of hand waving to excuse that Laravia has been god awful.
And I just don't agree with some of these premises
I thought Jaxson was very good last year as well and underperformed maybe with the Wolves?
Godwin: there was a collective moan from this forum when the lakers didn't pick him up. I think Godwin last year clearly has outperformed Laravia this year (and this is backed by advanced metrics)

Of course players can get into shooting slumps but there are slumps and there are slumps but the question is of all people Jake Laravia gets a huge long rope? He's not a player like DFS with a long track of record. I think other players should be given a shot you seem to want to make Laravia a starter

 

Marcus Smart was 1-10 tonight and yet led the team in plus/minus because of his DEFENSE.
Whatever dude, you think LaRavia sucks.
I don’t because there’s more to this game then just shooting.