Gordon Hayward An All-Star? He Should Be

Dec 14, 2013; Salt Lake City, UT, USA; Utah Jazz shooting guard Gordon Hayward (20) drives between San Antonio Spurs small forward Kawhi Leonard (2) and shooting guard Danny Green (4) during the first quarter at EnergySolutions Arena. Mandatory Credit: Russ Isabella-USA TODAY Sports

It will be a travesty when it doesn’t happen. Is Gordon Hayward an All-Star? He most certainly should be, but voters gon’ vote, so no chance there. The idea behind NBA All-Star fan voting seems like a good idea in theory — fans vote for who they want to see in the All-Star Game, therefore more casual fans will watch what is largely a meaningless exhibition game with little to no defense.

Fan voting routinely favors big markets and popular players, as a system such as the current one for determining the game’s starters would naturally dictate. This drives dedicated NBA fans and analysts absolutely berserk, that players that have no business starting an All-Star Game get to.

Not to mention international votes pouring in faster than Kobe Bryant can pull up for a jumper destined for iron. The majority of these votes amount to spam, but count as they’re cast within the system’s parameters. Certain players are hugely popular in some countries, viewed as deities or superheroes, in a way.

As of January 1, 2015, Gordon Hayward’s competition at the elbow in fan voting is Kevin Durant, Rudy Gay, Kawhi Leonard and Nick Young. These four players lead fan votes, only one of which is on a Western Conference team currently over .500 (though we should certainly expect Oklahoma City to be back in playoff contention quite soon with injuries healing).

Let’s be honest: Nick Young has no business on this list as an All-Star starter. He hasn’t even started a game for his own team this season! But, Los Angeles Lakers, yo. And he is quite an entertaining player to watch, even if terribly inefficient and willfully one-faceted.

How does Hayward stack up to the fan vote leaders, through January 6 of the 2014-15 NBA season? We could make all sorts of advanced stats and context arguments for Hayward, but there would be little point in doing so, so we’ll stick to the basics, what casual fans understand best anyhow.

Dialing up the numbers, Gordon Hayward is playing as well as any big wing in the Western Conference. Sadly, he’ll likely be overlooked as an All-Star this season

Games Played

• Hayward 35, Gay 32, Young 25, Leonard 22, Durant 12

Minutes Per Game

• Gay 36.4, Hayward 35.5, Leonard 32.2, Durant 29.8, Young 25.1

Points Per Game

• Durant 24.5, Gay 20.5, Hayward 19.0, Leonard 15.2, Young 14.8

Field Goal Percentage

• Durant 52%, Hayward, Leonard 45%, Gay 44%, Young 39%

Three Point Field Goal Percentage

• Durant 44%, Young 43%, Hayward 38%, Gay 36%, Leonard 31%

Rebounds Per Game

• Leonard 7.6, Gay 6.3, Durant 6.1, Hayward 5.0, Young 2.4

Assists Per Game

• Gay 4.5, Hayward 4.0, Durant 3.7, Leonard 2.5, Young 1.0

Steals Per Game

• Leonard 2.0, Gay 1.3, Hayward 1.2, Durant 0.8, Young 0.6

Dialing up the numbers, Gordon Hayward is playing as well as any big wing in the Western Conference. Sadly, he’ll likely be overlooked as an All-Star this season, coaches more likely to opt for the heir apparent for the San Antonio Spurs, the lone player on this list currently on a West team over .500: Kawhi Leonard.

Let’s hope Hayward’s day in the sun comes sooner rather than later.

If you’d like to explore these players’ numbers in more depth, here they are for 2014-15 at BasketballReference